Bruises and Scars Last Longer than You Think
by Crystalteen
Summary: Sondra is known as "Baby", a teenage girl with two abusive parents and a blind little kid sister. Sondra doesn't know where she belongs in the world until she meets the Greasers...but what'll happen when the Greasers start questioning what is going on in Sondra's life when she won't admit her abuse to them? And what about when she starts to develop feelings for a certain Greaser?
1. The Greasers and the Prescott's

**A/N: Okay, so I'm working on 3 stories at once, meaning that it'll take a whole lot of extra time of mine to work on at least 1, but I'm not quitting on away of my stories! Anyway, this idea just rushed to my head and I couldn't just store it away until "Welcome to the New Home" and "Very Greasy Weddings" was finished! This story takes place a month after "The Outsiders" and Johnny and Dallas had both survived their injuries, as if they were never harmed. This story also takes place before "Welcome to the New Home", so Jazz isn't in this, and it's as if the gang already knew about Jocelyn and Cassidy, but they're a year younger in this story. So, this story is about a young girl living her usual life in Tulsa, but now she's transferring to a new school and **_**everything**_** changes…now, sit back, relax, clear your mind, and enjoy chapter 1 of my third story on here! Enjoy! Please **_**review**_**, and two characters in this story, Charlie and Rebecca, are named after my two friends, just to let yawl know, but they're ages and appearances in this story might not exactly match them in real life! Either way though, they're totally golden and absolutely tuff, so I wanted to use their names just for the main characters friends, but the main character won't show up just yet! :D**

_Chapter 1_

Ah, Tulsa…it seems just like that part of the world where the Greasers own one side of town and the Socs own the other…but it's not just filled with the two battling gangs of the Greasers and the Socs. People who aren't Greasers or Socs, which are labeled with the name of "Regulars" actually try their best to not pay any mind with any of their attention on the Greasers, nor the Socs, but some Regulars have a rougher job at it then how some others handle all of the drama with Mustangs driving by with loud music roaring inside and alarms going off in certain stores that contain mostly beer and cigarettes.

You never know what to expect after each new day in Tulsa with the Greasers and the Socs…but for a certain family called the Prescott's, everyday just got worse and worse. The Prescott's is a family of four, and let's just say that they absolutely _do not _understand the meanings of the two words "love" and "care"…but that comes a bit later.

It was an ordinary September day at the Curtis's house after a month had past from Ponyboy's theme that had everything from him walking home from the movie theater and getting jumped, from Johnny stabbing Bob the Soc for self-defense, and all the way to when the Greasers won the rumble, and not to mention when the gang thought that Johnny and Dallas were both dead, Dally from being shot seven or so times from the fuzz, and Johnny from getting serious burns and his back getting busted from a falling beam at that old church that was now nothing but broken pieces of wood and piles of ash.

Surprisingly, Johnny and Dally both survived from their incidents, and the Greasers were all absolutely relieved and overjoyed with happiness, especially Ponyboy and Johnny's little sisters, eleven-year-old Carla, who's nickname is Cassidy, and six-month-old Jocelyn. Johnny's back wasn't actually busted at all. It was just sensitively sore, and his terrible scars from the fire had all healed, just like his sore back did, as if he was never in any pain. Dallas, on the other hand, was acting as if what happened between him and the fuzz never happened at all, considering that he was absolutely glad that Johnny-cake was still alive because the gang and his little sisters needed him. Either way though, both of them were fine and back in the gang. Johnny was back in school with Ponyboy, Kitten, and Two-bit, and Dallas was back to his usual time getting hauled in, or succeeding with robbing beer and cigarettes. Other then that, everything was starting to slowly return back to normal for the Greasers.

Like stated before, it was just an ordinary afternoon of another September day under the Curtis's roof, and all of the Greasers were busy with their usual stuff that they did in the afternoons during the school year. The sun might've been shining in the clear blue sky with a few white fluffy clouds drifting about, but all of the Greasers were inside the Curtis's house instead of being outside, which is how everything usually is with them during the school year.

Darry had just finished paying the bills, along with Sodapop's help, and now, Darry was just kicking back in the recliner reading the newspaper, while Soda played his usual card game with Steve at the coffee table, the two best buddies hiding aces and other cards up their sleeves and in their socks, and dragging them out into their actual cards when the other wasn't looking.

Two-bit was sitting on the couch with a opened bottle of beer that was half drank in his hands, his eyes lost on the singing and dancing mouse on the TV screen. Kitten was also there on the couch, flipping through an old fashion magazine while she grew her beautiful, small grin and chuckled a bit when she heard Steve and Soda playfully bicker at each other, as they tossed their cards at each other while doing so.

Ponyboy and Johnny were both in the kitchen sitting at the table with their homework papers set out in front of them and pencils being held in their hands. Cassidy was sitting in another chair that was beside Johnny, she busy with her own homework at that moment, too, and Jocelyn was just nibbling and drooling on her own fingers as she sat on Johnny's lap, having one of his arms wrapped around her while his free arm was used for him to write.

"What'd you get for number seven, Pone?" Johnny asked, tapping his pencil on the table confusedly.

"I don't know, I didn't get that one yet," Ponyboy replied "hey, Two-bit! Did you get number seven on our chemistry homework?"

Two-bit's eyes stayed remained on Mickey Mouse as he listened and took time to take in Ponyboy's question, but then he let out a small laugh to himself.

"I don't do homework, remember, Pony? I always blow it off till the next day so I can copy it from those trashy geeks that sit in the way back of the room!" Two-bit exclaimed, and he was only exclaiming so Ponyboy and Johnny could hear his response about the chemistry homework from the kitchen.

Johnny and Ponyboy exchanged a look, and to Ponyboy's surprise, Johnny actually rolled his eyes. Jonathan Cade had _never _even clenched his teeth angrily ever before in his life, but he was actually rolling his eyes in an annoyed-like manner towards what Two-bit just said about those "trashy geeks" that sit in the way back of their chemistry class.

"Those people in the back aren't trashy geeks, Two-bit," Johnny spoke with his usual innocent and calm tone. "They're Regulars,"

"And that's what makes them trashy geeks, Johnny-cake. They're nothing like us, but we're just lucky that they ain't like Socs either," Two-bit kicked back on the couch and shrugged his shoulders. "So I guess you could argue from it being good or bad about 'em being nothing but pieces of geeky trash,"

Darry slapped the newspaper down onto his lap and shot his eyes in an annoyed way at the wisecracker of the gang.

"Two-bit, don't you just go assuming things about these Regulars and speaking bad 'bout them with my baby brother and Johnny-cake, ya hear?!" Darry demanded

Two-bit took a drink of the clear, brownish liquid from his bottle of beer and swallowed what was in his mouth before he wiped away the remaining drops from his lips with the back of his free hand. His eyes were still remaining straight on the singing and dancing mouse on the TV screen.

"I'm sorry, Superman, but how can somebody just pretend everything's tuff when they clearly witness themselves or hear from other people about us and the Socs?" Two-bit asked

"Hey!" Kitten exclaimed as she smacked Two-bit over the head with the magazine that she was reading, but she made sure that it didn't hurt him _too much_. Still, Two-bit being Two-bit and all, the wisecracker flew his hand to where Kitten thumped him with the rolled up magazine and let out a phony "Ow!", even though he knew that the whole gang could tell that he was lying.

"What was that for, Kitty-Cat?!" Two-bit asked

Kitten narrowed her eyes as she rolled them, cracking her grin again as she allowed some of her pretty chuckles to escape from her mouth.

"Matthews, you ain't foolin' anyone with your fake hurts. Reality check, Two-bit, that joke got old around the fourth grade," Kitten informed

"Second grade!" Steve objected with a laugh, as he flung another card at Soda.

Two-bit playfully rolled his eyes and smiled his big, goofy smile, taking his hand back down away from his head from where Kitten hit him with the magazine and resting it back on his side.

"Your guys point being then?" Two-bit asked

"Those Regulars may seem like everything's going tuff and alright to us, but maybe in their own minds, things properly are as rough with them just witnessing and thinking about it while we live it," Kitten explained, opening up the magazine to the page that she was reading before she rolled it up and thumped Two-bit over the head with it.

Two-bit let out another laugh, right before he took another drink of his beer, then wiped away the remaining drops with the back of his hand again from his lips, just like he did before.

"Ha! Please! Those Regulars have it made, just like the Socs do! The only difference is that they actually have to get work done if they actually want to earn something!" Two-bit laughed

A confused expression formed on Cassidy's face after she took in and thought about what Two-bit just said about Regulars, and the second oldest Cade looked away from her math homework, turning her attention over to the arch doorway that entered the Curtis's living room.

"Well, Two-bit, wouldn't that make Regulars like us? Since they have to work to get things, doesn't that make them like us?" Cassidy questioned

Two-bit shook his head, but considering that he knew that Cassidy couldn't see him because she was in the kitchen with Johnny, Jocelyn, and Ponyboy, the wisecracker of the gang knew that he would have to speak up with more words.

"Cassidy, _we're _Greasers, and the Socs are Socs, and the Regulars are…well…Regulars, obviously," Two-bit shrugged his shoulders. "We're all different,"

Ponyboy cocked an eyebrow when he heard Two-bit say that, while he wrote down another answer for a different problem on his chemistry homework, allowing Johnny to copy it down afterwards.

"Two-bit, we're not different as much as you think. I still remember what Cherry told me, and you guys should all know because Dally snagged my theme and you all read it when I wasn't home," Ponyboy rolled his eyes at that thought, while the rest of the gang exchanged smiles and snickered a bit at the memory of how Dallas found the youngest Curtis's theme in his notebook under his and Sodapop's bed.

"Things are rough all over," Kitten stated the message that Pony was speaking about with an admiring smile on her face. "It's true,"

"How on earth do the Socs have things rough?" Two-bit asked with a single roll of his eyes.

"That's a question that'll always have to remain a secret, Two-bit. It ain't stated in Ponyboy's theme," Steve pointed out as he and Soda threw the last of their cards down to the floor, and then the two best buddies started their usual arm wrestling contest.

"Actually, I think it's obvious that Socs get spoiled to the point and they never get disciplined that they don't understand what's right or wrong…that's why I think the Socs have it rough…because they never get treated right with actual parents…they just get everything they want," Ponyboy shared

Johnny grew a small grin and nodded a little nod of agreement, even though he's been beaten and jumped many times by the Socs before. Still, Johnny felt like that the Socs went through roughness, too.

Kitten and Darry exchanged smiles from their seats in the living room after hearing what Ponyboy just said. They might've hated the Socs guts, but it wasn't their faults for turning into their snobby and prissy selves. It was mainly their folks faults for giving them no orders, spoiling them to death, and never disciplining them from things they've done wrong in the past. Nevertheless, Greasers and Socs would _never _mix. All Two-bit did though was roll his eyes at Ponyboy's statement. Other then Dallas, Two-bit was the main Greaser that hated the Socs to death with his whole heart and mind, and he believed that Socs didn't have anything rough to deal with or go through, unlike the Greasers gang.

"..Must be nice..." Two-bit mumbled under his breath, referring to Pony's statement about the Socs, before taking another small sip of his beer from his glass bottle.

"Aw, can your mouth shut, Matthews!" Steve ordered with an angry flash of his eyes towards Two-bit added into his speaking. "I hate to admit it, but the kids got a point there!"

"Yeah, Two-bit! Don't you be mockin' my kid brothers opinion, ya hear?!" Soda demanded, still being busy with trying his best with all of his tough energy and strength to get Steve's arm crushed down onto the coffee table to sound stern towards Two-bit to make him know for a hardcore fact that Sodapop meant business.

The wisecracker of the gang was now just having his eyes back to being glued on his favorite TV show while he tried his best to forget about all that he and the rest of the Greasers just talked about with the Socs and whatnot with the Regulars.

"Man, guys, where's ol' Dally? I haven't seen him 'round all day today," Two-bit announced throughout the entire Curtis's household. "Is he still in the slammer from getting hauled in yesterday night?"

Steve shook his head when still arm wrestling Soda, both of their arms now trembling and faces bright red. Finally, Steve allowed his arm to fall, and Sodapop, of course, cheered and clapped for himself, right before he started doing his little happy dance around the living room and into the kitchen, which made everybody, even Darry, crack their smiles and laugh.

"No, Two-bit," Steve then said "Dally was released very early this morning, considering that all he did last night was litter, but knowing him…he's properly robbing some bottles of beer and new cigarette packs,"

With the Greasers now all wondering about that with Dally being God knows where after getting released from the jail yet again, it was that time to transfer over to a certain family of four…the Prescott family, who didn't know anything at all about love and care, nor trust or happiness either. One man, one lady, and two girls. The Prescott's were Regulars, trying their best to forget all about Greasers and Socs, but for one of the Regulars…she was focusing on what being in a gang would actually feel like.

Her name was Sondra. Sondra Allison Prescott, a fourteen-year-old girl who's a little tiny bit taller for her age, and she has hair that goes down to the bottom of her neck. It was short and so golden, as if she had the rays of heavens glory for hair instead of actual, regular, human hair, but Sondra usually has it all shagged up and uncombed, mainly because she was a tomboy. Sondra's eyes were pale blue, and she had light, light tan skin that was as smooth as a babies. She was beautiful, even though her hair was usually all shaggy, and her clothes were usually tattered, worn out, ripped up, and dirty, and not to mention the fact that Sondra never wears makeup, but she doesn't need it. She has natural beauty, but on the inside, Sondra's just a sensitive and shy dreamer that's lost in the world, not knowing where she actually belonged in it. Seriously, Sondra even hated her own name from feeling so shy about how others would refer to her as if they knew it, and so, she only allowed others to know and call her "Baby" instead of her actual name.

Sondra lived in a small, two-story house that was in the center of town, meaning that half of it was in the Greasers territory, and the other half was in the Socs territory. Mr and Mrs. Prescott, who are really named Dominic Stuart Prescott and Spring Rosella Prescott, were actually not the couple of parents you'd want to bring your future husband/wife to meet, or just a friend in general. The thing is, Dominic and Spring were both abusers to their two daughters, Sondra, of course, and Sondra's little seven-year-old sister, Iris, who just so happens to be blind because Spring took this type of powdered drug when she was pregnant with Iris. Spring took all kinds of different drugs while Dominic drank all day, but they just looked like any other married couple would look. Ordinary and loving…but love, care, trust, joy, and anything with a great meaning just didn't exist when you're with Mr and Mrs. Prescott.

Sondra gets verbally abused by her mother, and not to mention spit upon once in awhile by her, and Dominic physically gets going on Sondra at least eight or so times a day over anything that he thought was bad. Heck, one time Sondra just walked through the front door of her house and she announced that she had arrived back from her day at school, which is when she was greeted by a painful punch in the stomach by her father, right before Spring hollered out that she was nothing but a worthless piece of crap that shouldn't have ever been born. _That's _how cold Dominic and Spring were.

Iris was nothing like Spring and Dominic were though. Like stated before, she's the youngest daughter of the married couple, being only seven years old and Sondra's blind little sister. Considering that she was blind, Iris's eyes were a shimmering bright grayish-whitish color, and her hair was brunette, and so long and wavy, going down to just a little below the center of her back. Her skin was just simply white, and just as smooth as her older sisters. Iris and Sondra absolutely loved each other, being the only two spreading actual love, care, trust, and other great happiness throughout their household the best they could while trying to avoid their parents harsh words and painful beat downs for no reasons at all. Iris's personality was just ordinary, sweet innocence, just like any child her age would have for a personality. Sondra, on the other hand though…shouldn't be so, so quiet and shy for a teenager her age.

Sondra looked just like her Mama while Iris looked just like their Dada, but at least Iris didn't have to see how ticked off Spring and Dominic got when getting drunk, high, and just angry out of nowhere.

Sondra had a rough life, trying her best to find her place in the world, and not to mention actually trying to find friends, other then her two friends, Charlie and Rebecca, who took care and helped Iris deal with her blindness a little bit better each and every day. Sondra was precious, like a flower…and she was very wise and innocent…but she was also very shy and sensitive, like stated before, and she really only has Rebecca and Charlie as friends, but she doesn't even tell them about her and Iris being abused, and Sondra makes Iris promise every day before she takes her to see Rebecca and Charlie to not speak a single word about their folks…and Iris always assured her that she wouldn't…but on one day…Sondra's life changed, as well did the Greasers gang, and it all started on _that exact September afternoon_.

The fourteen-year-old girl was walking home from school as always in the sunlight and cool breeze of the fall afternoon, looking down at her old tennis shoes go back and forth on her feet as she walked, and her shagged up, golden blonde hair flowed gently a bit in the cool breeze. Sondra's pale blue eyes were gazing straight down at her old tennis shoes, not paying any mind to other people who walked by her and started snickering and whispering how hideous she looked, or if she was truly homeless when looking the way that she did. Sondra has never been told by anyone in the whole world that she was pretty or beautiful or anything sweet like that, and she's too shy to actually speak up to somebody. That poor fourteen-year-old girl is nearly scared of her own shadow, as if she was some shaky little bunny.

Sondra was dressed in her old worn out tennis shoes, worn out; light blue jeans, and her regular plaid red and black shirt that had long sleeves, and it was slightly dirty with some mud stains that were hardly noticeable unless being up close. Her light blue jeans were also covered in some dirt stains, mainly around her shins and knees, but not much dirt or anything covered her pants, as if mud and dirt even bothered her. Sondra had always been a tomboy since the first day she learned about fashion when growing up. She wasn't into all of that girly, frilly, wildly colored stuff like perfume, makeup, hair bands/clips, or purses. She was just happy with being her usual, quiet tomboy self with her black backpack swung over her right arm every weekday when coming home and walking back to school weekday after weekday…but at least a loving home with loving parents, more friends, possibly a boyfriend that'd actually adore her for her, and a place in the world would _really_ make her life better for both her and her little sister.

The colorful leaves scraped against the silver sidewalk in the cool, soft breeze of the fall day, and Sondra was as always, all by herself when walking home from school. She just so happened to be a student from Ponyboy, Johnny, Kitten, and Two-bit's high school because she skipped a grade in grade school, just like Ponyboy and Kitten both did. Sondra was smart, but she didn't use her head much, like Pony, and she was extremely shy, sensitive, and quiet, just like Johnny and Cassidy (Jocelyn, too, but she's only six months in this story!).

Sondra knew everything about Greasers and Socs, but being a Regular and all, she tried day after another single day, week after week, month after month, and even year after another long year to just drop and forget about it all. However, it wasn't that easy. Two-bit wasn't right about all Regulars…not _all _of them had it made, nor had it easy at all. What Ponyboy stated in his theme because of Cherry's chat with him was correct…things are rough all around for all people, no matter if you're a Greaser, Soc, or even a Regular…things will _always _be rough.

"…Alright, Sondra…you..you can do this…just ignore them and be your usual self who's always quiet around them and helpful with Iris…" Sondra whispered to herself, nearly having tears to start forming in her pale blue eyes from her worrying so much about them…or in other works, Dominic and Spring. They always hollered at her and spit at her, and not to mention smack and hit her for no reason at all. Spring and Dominic also did the same to Iris, but not as much as they give such horrible beat downs and bicker such foul language at Sondra. Seriously, it feels like to Sondra that her and her little sisters lives was nothing but a rated R movie that wouldn't ever end.

Not only that, but Sondra wore long sleeves and long pants a whole lot more then short sleeves and shorts or other short pieces of clothing like that because she always hid the bruises and scars that she had carved into her skin at the time behind all of the fabric, but still, she couldn't keep _all _of the bruises hidden from sight. She had one peaking out a bit from her shirts collar, and not to mention a few more sneaking out from her wrists, which Sondra just tugged her sleeves back down to cover up, and she fixed her shirts collar a bit better to keep the couple of injuries she had on her neck actually hidden. The main point is though…Sondra lies to her classroom…she lies everyday at school…she lies to the teachers…and she always tries…to cover every bruise and any other injury she had secretly.

Iris, on the other hand, just allowed her bruises, scratches, scars, and other injuries on her arms and legs and a little on her neck show once in awhile. Every time that Rebecca and Charlie got confused and absolutely concerned about it, they asked Iris about it, but she painfully and hurtfully lied to them, making up stories every time she got a new type of injury from Spring and/or Dominic. Sondra backed her up when and if Charlie and/or Rebecca questioned her then about the youngest Prescott, and when and if Rebecca and/or Charlie caught sight of her injuries, which rarely ever happened, Sondra made up lies, too. They both absolutely regretted it, considering that Charlie and Rebecca were both so loving and caring, amazing friends, but Spring and Dominic threatened their daughters to never speak about what goes on in their household with others.

As Sondra kept walking, adjusting her backpack over her right arm a couple of times, while keeping her pale blue eyes down at her old tennis shoes and sighed a bit because of her wounded and aching heart, the fourteen-year-old girl let out a yelp as she felt herself to bump into something…or _someone_, actually.

Sondra's eyes shot huge from fear as her heart took one heck of a giant, fearful leap in her chest. She quickly shot her attention up to see a teenaged boy with dark brown, greasy hair, white skin, and a cold pair of eyes that were staring right down at her. He was wearing a leather black jacket, a worn out pair of regular jeans, a ring on his finger that he had stole from some drunk teenager, and a regular dark, rusty-orange shaded T-shirt, along with a pair of pointed toe, brown boots.

Sondra could've sworn that she felt her heart drop, because she knew that, that teenaged boy wasn't just a teenaged boy…but he was a _Greaser_…and not only was he a Greaser…but he was _Dallas Winston_. Dally. Sondra has heard of Dallas Winston before, considering that everyone in Tulsa has heard about Dallas somehow with something, and Sondra was truly, deeply frightened of him.

Dally's cold eyes flooded with anger as he released a gray smoke ring from his mouth, after taking it in from his cancer-stick that was being held inbetween his right hands pointer and middle fingers.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Sondra cried out, her voice stuttering as her body started trembling from being so scared. "I, I s-should've been watching w-where I was go-"

"Let me just tell you that you're wasting your breath, so apologizes are absolutely worthless to me! You're just lucky that I'm on probation, otherwise I'd take care of you, you broadly Regular!" Dallas exclaimed

Sondra took down a big lump in her throat, along with a very bad taste that sank down along with it. She absolutely _hated _it when others just referred to her as a Regular, but being called a broad at the same time just made it a whole lot rougher on both her heart and her mind.

"Say, kid, you got any cash on you or anything valuable?" Dally asked

"…I'm afraid I don't…not unless you count the clothes on my back, my tennis shoes that are all old and worn out on my feet, or my school bag that has absolutely nothing in it but my homework and books," Sondra sighed her whole reply in one go to Dallas, her tone filled with nothing but complete sorrow.

Dallas rolled his eyes at her long response though. All he was looking for was a simple yes or no.

"Whoa, whoa there, broad!" Dally bellowed "I was asking for either a _yes _or a _no _for your little reply! Nothing more! I didn't ask for what all you had on you here! Like, as if I'm going to take some stupid school supplies and old, worn out, dirty broad clothes!"

All Sondra did was pout that time, as a single tear formed and dropped out of her right eye without Dally even noticing it drip down her cheek and fall to the sidewalk with a soft, gentle "Plop!"

The fourteen-year-old just simply listened and innocently watched with her frown staying straight on her face, as Dally take in and let out one final breath of smoke, right before he put his cigarette out and just let it there on the sidewalk, not caring to pick it back up and place it into a trash bin, considering that he _was _Dallas Winston and whatnot.

Dally then reached into his leather jackets pocket and whipped out his switchblade, which certainly made Sondra's heart feel like it was a bomb of terror that was about to explode any moment, and her eyes were now huge again, but Dallas still never paid any attention to how frightened she looked. She actually _liked _it when people were scared of him, even the other Greasers, except the Cade's, of course, and if there was one main person Dally would love to scare, it was some Regular.

"Kid, just watch where you're going next time, understand?!" Dally demanded, only using his switchblade to start cleaning the dirt out from underneath his nails.

"…Y-Yes.." Sondra gulped back with a single stammer in response.

"Good, now get going! I need to go to the store and "buy" a few things for my friends!" Dallas exclaimed, his voice echoing with bitter anger as he stomped past Sondra, pushing her out of his way a bit when he stomped past her, and continued his way down the direction that Sondra had just came from.

The fourteen-year-old girl wiped the fearful tears away from her pale blue eyes before they could start falling down her face, as she quietly, but rapidly at the same time, began breathing in and out to herself. Her heart was now pounding so hard in her chest that it felt like it was about to pop from so much terror any moment, but Sondra just caught the present that she was then in at that moment with Dally now away from her, took in and let out one final, deep and soft breath from her mouth, then continued her way home, where Spring and Dominic were either getting drunk, high, maybe both, or just making out on the couch or something like that.

Sondra walked for another five or so minutes all by herself in the autumn season, while listening to Mustangs drive by with loud music cranked up inside, along with a couple of male Socs calling out from their rolled down windows such rude comments and insults about Sondra being a Regular and whatever else that they thought was wrong with her.

"WHERE'D YOU GET YOUR CLOTHES?! THE DUMP?!" some redhead male Soc laughed as he spitted some of his beer out at Sondra, but he didn't get a single drop on her.

"WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE IN THIS WORLD, REGULAR?!" the redhead Socs best friend, who was just some black-haired Soc with dark skin, bellowed out.

"COMB YOUR HAIR, WHY DON'T YA?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU, A HOMELESS BROAD, OR ONE OF THOSE TRAVELERS THAT ATTEMPT TO EARN CASH MY JUST BEGGING ON YOUR KNEES?!"

"WHY WOULD YOUR PARENTS EVEN WANT TO GIVE BIRTH TO YOU?!"

"Why don't you all shut up?!" Sondra hollered out finally at the yellow Mustang, but her voice wasn't _that _upset or angry much. It was mainly just still remaining shy and now nervous, along with some fear all over again now. "Just shut up and leave me alone!"

The yellow Mustang had stalked the poor fourteen-year-old girl until she finally reached her house and started wandering up the driveway, while she heard the Socs yell out some more unspeakable language and honked the horn rapidly a bit, finally before they actually drove off out of sight once and for all.

Sondra closed her pale blue eyes, took in and let out a deep, but very soft breath to herself, then reopened her eyes, right before she took her key out from resting inside her worn out and slightly dirty jeans pocket. She only took a couple of seconds of jiggling and twisting the key around in the main stained-glass doors doorknob, until finally hearing the clicking sound from the other side.

No greeting came out at all from Sondra's lips as she nervously stepped into her house, closing the door behind her all the way afterwards. Not a surprise that she didn't get a hello or the question that most teenagers got about how their school day went, but it was also surprising to Sondra that she didn't get punched in the stomach or had anything hollered at her right after the front door was heard shutting all the way behind her.

Dominic was laying back on the tan couch with the newspaper being read in his hands, one sock being worn on his feet while the other wasn't, and his pants were nothing but tattered-designed jeans. He didn't have a shirt on though, and his thick red hair was all knotted up from him recently waking up from yet another hangover. Yet, a couple empty glass bottles of beer were resting beside the couch on the shiny, wooden floor, and another one that was already half drank was resting beside Dominic's left side on the couch.

Spring, on the other hand, was busy cooking dinner for herself and Dominic, while their daughters just had to deal with not eating anything yet again, and she had serious black, blue, and purple mixture shades around her eyes, meaning that she must've taken some more drugs when Sondra was out at school, and Iris was out over at Rebecca's house with both Rebecca and Charlie.

"Oh, dirt bag, you're home," Dominic slurred, and Sondra instantly knew that he was addressing her with yet another harsh nickname.

"…Yes, Dad…I'm home from school," Sondra sighed, pretending that she didn't hear the two words that her father had used to call her this time, and not to mention meeting his heartless eyes that were surrounding by blackness, because he was obviously still trying to get over his hangover.

"Vondra, make yourself useful and go fetch your sister again from Rebecca's house," Spring coughed a bit as she stirred the soup that she was making for her and Dominic's dinner in a pot with a wooden spoon on the stove.

"…My names Sondra, Mother…" Sondra muttered under his breath with her usual sorrow tone that always hit her voice when she was under her own homes roof.

"Excuse me, young lady?! What was that?!" Spring demanded, her teeth, which were a light yellow color, now clenched in an upsetting way towards hers and Dominic's oldest child.

Sondra started to tremble as she took down a gulp in her throat, and she watched Spring stare heartlessly at her with her hands now pressed on her hips. Sondra was in the terrifying zone, now thinking about what worse thing could happen to her _this time_, but her thoughts were interrupted when Dominic spitted out the words in a raged voice, "You answer your mother the first time she speaks a question to you, our horrible, drunken mistake!"

Okay, those words seriously hurt, but Sondra wouldn't allow herself to shed a tear in front of her folks. She wasn't allowed to anyway…she wasn't allowed to cry at all unless she wanted to get the leather belt.

"…Nothing…I said nothing," Sondra gulped, her throat now starting to feel sore on the inside from holding back so many tears that she truly desperately wanted to release, but she knew she couldn't.

"That's what I thought! Now go pick up your sister from Rebecca's!" Spring ordered, nearly spitting with every word she proclaimed bitterly and angrily. "And do _not _make me repeat it a third time!"

"…Yes, Mom…" Sondra sighed as she dropped her book bag to the floor, then she hit it back out the front door to go pick Iris up, while she heard her own parents snicker and say such rude things about her behind her back.

Nevertheless, the oldest child of the two Prescott daughters just kept her mouth shut, as always, and she did her route to Rebecca's house that she usually took to pick Iris up every day of the week, after school on weekdays, and around 4:30 in the afternoon through 6:30 on the weekends. Rebecca's house was only a ten minute walk away from Sondra's house, Charlie's actually only being five more minutes extra when Sondra traveled there instead of Rebecca's to pick Iris up, and even though Rebecca's and Charlie's houses are both in Greasers territory, they aren't actually Greasers, nor Socs. The two of them are Regulars, Charlie being seventeen and Rebecca being sixteen, and the two of them volunteered to help Iris deal with her blindness, like stated before.

Sondra knocked on the front door of Rebecca's house after she arrived ten minutes later, and after three seconds of waiting for somebody to enter or something, Rebecca's sweet and kind voice called out, "It's open! Come on in!", followed by Charlie's handsome voice saying, "Yeah, come join in the party, population, three!"

Hearing their voices was all Sondra needed to actually hear to have a rare, small, pretty grin flash across her face, followed by a couple of her sweet, soft giggles, which were also very rare, and the fourteen-year-old girl entered the beautiful house. Kindly, Sondra closed the door quietly and peacefully behind her, and then she walked into the small, beautiful family room where Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris were usually always when Rebecca and Charlie looked over and taught Iris to do things when being blind. As always, the three of them _were_ in there, Rebecca and Charlie sitting there in the floor of the center of the room with Iris in front of them, her grayish-whitish eyes shimmering, as if they were glowing absolutely white, and she was listening to Charlie and Rebecca as they took turns talking to her.

"Okay, Iris," Charlie kindly spoke to the seven-year-old blind girl. "Can you tell me and Becca what this color is?"

Gently and caringly, Charlie took a hold of adorable little Iris's hand, then slowly reached her little bare hand over to the card that he was holding, which spelt out the color of "Red" in brail.

As always, Iris's mouth hung open as she thought about the feelings of the small bumps that Charlie ran her fingers over on the special cards that he and Rebecca had to teach her.

"…Red…" Iris then spoke, her voice gentle and innocent, also very soft and adorable, being only a little seven-year-old child and all.

"Good job, little one. That was correct," Charlie smiled his tuff, golden, handsome grin as he gently tucked a piece of Iris's long hair behind her earring pierced ears.

"What about this color, Iris?" Rebecca questioned

Iris slowly turned her head over a bit to the direction she heard Rebecca's loving and gentle voice, and allowed the sixteen-year-old girl to take her hand like Charlie just did, and she sooner felt the small bumps of brail on a different card spell out the color "Pink"

"…Pink…" Iris piped up, and Rebecca and Charlie smiled at each other, right before turning their golden grins back to the little seven-year-old, desperately wishing on the inside that she could actually _see _how proud they were of her.

"You're getting better and better everyday, Iris," Rebecca complimented "but that's enough for today. Tomorrow, it's Charlie's place, and we'll start teaching you how to walk better with your guider, or your cane,"

"…Okay, Becca…okay, Charlie…thank you, guys," Iris thanked, gently taking her arm back from Rebecca's soft and careful grip.

Not only was Iris blind, but another effect that formed when she was inside Spring's stomach when she was about three months away from coming into the world was that, when Spring snorted, or took that powdered drug up her nose, it caused Iris to be born with some brain damage, meaning that she takes time to process her words and thinks about what she's about to say before the words actually come out from her mouth. That's why she actually stutters a lot.

Charlie and Rebecca then stood up from the carpeted floor and rested the brail cards down onto the coffee table. They then turned their smiles towards the fourteen-year-old girl that was standing in the arch doorway with her small, rare grin printed on her face.

"Hey, Baby," Charlie greeted "how you doin' today?"

Sondra shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to share about what happened between her and Dally, and then her with the Socs in the yellow Mustang, and lastly what happened with her and her folks.

"I'm doing just as ordinary as yesterday, Charlie. Thanks for asking," Sondra thanked "but I'm just here to pick Iris up again,"

"We're leaving…now…sissy?" Iris soft and gentle childish voice asked, as Rebecca helped her up from the floor, and led her over to her big sister.

"Yes, Iris, we're leaving now," Sondra replied as she gently took her little sisters hand from Rebecca when she carefully handed her over.

"Wait, Son- I mean, Baby," Rebecca blurted out before Sondra could say good-bye to her and Charlie before leaving.

Sondra stopped and looked at Charlie and Rebecca confusedly, realizing how concerned the two of them now looked.

"What's up with that new bruise on your wrist?" Charlie asked

Sondra could've sworn at that moment that the color had drained out of her skin.

"Huh?"

"Baby, your wrist has _another _bruise on it. What happened this time?" Rebecca questioned

"I…I fell off of my bike when free riding it 'round Soc territory," Sondra sighed

Rebecca narrowed her eyes in a confused manner as Charlie cocked an eyebrow, and the two of them exchanged their concerned expressions, right before they both gazed back at Sondra and Iris.

"Okay, so first was a black eye because you fell and hit your head on your staircases railing weeks ago…and then it was a terrible scratch across your cheek because you slipped when walking down your porches steps…and now you got yet another nasty bruise from a different incident?" Charlie asked

"…Yep…" That was all Sondra had in mind of being able to say. She knew she still couldn't tell Charlie and/or Rebecca the truth about Spring and/or Dominic being abusive, and Iris couldn't tell them either, otherwise they'd get it big time.

"…Are you two feeling alright? Baby? Iris?" Rebecca asked the two Prescott daughters.

"…We're fine…" Sondra assured, but Rebecca and Charlie were both still super unsure of that same response they practically always got when either of them questioned Iris and/or Sondra if they were okay.

"…Yes…we're absolutely…okay…" Iris lied to have her older sisters back like she usually had hers when she was the one to first painfully lie to Charlie and Rebecca.

Not giving Rebecca and/or Charlie another chance to say a single word more, Sondra told them good-bye and thanks, as Iris stuttered the same thing, then the two of them left out the front door, leaving Charlie and Rebecca both completely confused and concerned for their two little friends yet again. They knew that they were hiding something…but they just didn't know what it was exactly…

"…We're still…not allowed…to tell Charlie and…Rebecca about…Mom and Dad?" Iris hesitated with thinking and processing her words yet again because of her brain damage acting up on her once again, like it always did when she thought things through or was about to speak in general.

"..No, Iris. I'm sorry, but we can _never _tell them, nor anybody," Sondra instructed her little blind sister, as she guided her down the sidewalk in the autumn sunlight of the cool September day. "Our parents specifically told us both to _never _allow anyone to know what goes on under our roof,"

"But…it hurts when they…hit us…and yell at…us," Iris pointed out, her usual stuttering taking over her speaking. She wouldn't blink a single time, and the sunlight bounced right off of her grayish-whitish eyes, as if she didn't even notice it, because all she could see was the color gray. The poor little seven-year-old didn't even need to blink one bit. The only time she really closed her eyes was to go to sleep. Other then that, her whitish-grayish eyes would never close or blink because they didn't need to.

"I know," Sondra sighed, turning her attention down to her little blind sister as the two of them continued walking down the gray sidewalk, but right after Sondra finished telling Iris that exact words, "But we can't tell anybody no matter what!", the two of them bumped into something…or _someone _exactly yet again.

Sondra threw her arms around her little sister and held her close to her to keep her safe after the fourteen-year-old girl realized who it was that she and Iris had bumped into. It was Dally. Dallas Winston…again, but only this time he was holding a couple brown paper bags that were filled with different packs of cigarettes and bottles of beer.

"You again?!" Dally exclaimed at Sondra, pointing one of his pointer fingers angrily at her, which made her let out a small yelp from her lips, as she felt Iris closer to her. "I thought I told you to watch where you were going if we ever ran into each other again, ya broad!"

Sondra immediately covered up Iris's ears after hearing that language come out of Dally's mouth again.

"Watch your words around my little sister, please!" Sondra pleaded

"Oh, and why should I care if she hears me talk like this?! It's whole I am!" Dallas exclaimed

Surprisingly, Sondra was now starting to heat up from anger, and she narrowed her eyes a bit at the Greaser she was speaking with yet again. You mess with Sondra herself, okay then…but when you mess with her little sister…oh, god…

"Maybe because she's only seven years old and not to mention _blind_!"

That was all Sondra had to say before stomping off with Iris now being held even closer to her. Dally's eyes were now big and his mouth was now completely shutting himself up for a change. Thinking that Iris was blind really got him in the heart, believe it or not, because Dally secretly had a soft spot for certain children. Nevertheless, Dallas only let out a small growl from his lips as he watched Sondra and Iris keep walking down the sidewalk until they were out of his sight. Then, Dally just headed back over to the Curtis's house, which is when he passed out the cigarettes that he "bought" from the store to everyone except Jocelyn, Cassidy, Soda, and Darry, and then he stored the beer in the Curtis's fridge.

"Say, where were you, Dally?" Johnny asked, him now enjoying his playtime with his and Cassidy's baby sister in the living room with everybody in the gang.

"Just taking a walk in town, Johnny-cake. Huntin' some action, ya dig? Oh, and you guys would never guess what I witnessed today in town. This broad kept running into me. She looked about fourteen or so with shagged up, messy, golden blonde hair, pale blue eyes that were filled with plead, light, light tan skin, and she was completely dressed in some dirty clothes that were all worn out," Dally explained to the Greasers gang as he relaxed himself back on the couch.

Ponyboy and Johnny then exchanged looks, their eyes now widened after taking in Dally's words that he used to describe this young girl.

"That girl, Dally, is someone who just transferred over to Kitten's, mine, Johnny-cake's, and Two-bit's high school! She skipped a grade just like Johnny, Kitten, and I did, but I never really caught her name," Ponyboy shared

"Oh, now that you mention it, Pony, I remember her. Yeah, she's in our chemistry class, sitting in the way back with the Regulars," Kitten said

"Regulars are no good, I'm telling ya that now," Two-bit mumbled, rolling his eyes. "And I remember this girl, too, and I must admit that she seems tuff by the way she looks, but she ain't a Greaser, nor a Soc, obviously. She's a Regular,"

Johnny wasn't listening though, unlike everybody else in the gang was…he was lost in thinking about this golden blonde-haired girl that just transferred over to his, Ponyboy's, Two-bit's, and Kitten's high school…and all he could do when thinking about her was slightly heat up, his face now starting to turn bright red…but nobody knew Sondra in the Greasers gang…but sooner or later…they all would…_if _Sondra can earn enough confidence in herself to come up with even speaking without nervousness or quietness with shyness added in, too…and not to mention Spring and Dominic being abusive towards their daughters…what could possibly happen next?

**A/N: Okay, so that's the first chapter, and I hope you all liked it. Please review! I need reviews to help me feel better and get better at my writing! It'll also help me keep going! I'll post the next chapter ASAP, but I need reviews, please! They help me stay strong! Thank you all, and I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D**


	2. Blind Guider Lessons And Bowling Drama

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's enjoy chapter 2 and _please review_! :D**

_Chapter 2_

The Greasers were all concerned about Sondra now, but none of them knew the fact of her being abused, or about her little sister being blind because Dally didn't bother to bring up the fact that Iris _was _blind, and that was because he actually felt _sorry_ for her. She'd never be able to see the starry nights or the beautiful morning sunlight each and every day, unless it's a beautiful rainy day, so she couldn't see the raindrops sparkling and dancing their way down from the sky. Heck, the poor seven-year-old girl wouldn't even be allowed to see her own sister...and understand life clearly because she can't see anything but the pitch color of snow white.

Nevertheless, the clear thinking with absolute concern was smashed when Jocelyn started crying for no reason, and she kept reaching her arms up towards Johnny's direction, and being the kind and loving, protective brother that he was, the eldest Cade caringly picked Jocelyn up and cradled her close to his chest, keeping her warm in their little snuggle. However, Jocelyn still didn't stop sheding tears, considering that she was only a little six-month-old baby, and she berried her face into his T-shirts shoulder, crying and whimpering loudly.

"Come on, Joce..._please _stop crying," Johnny softly pleaded, it being fifteen minutes later of the oldest Cade doing nothing but snuggling and consoling the youngest Cade the best he could as he paced back and forth across the Curtis's living room floor with the Greasers all just looking at them. Johnny could tell that they were all getting annoyed and tired about hearing Jocelyn's ceaseless crying, but he couldn't help it. "Carla," Johnny spoke up to his first little sister, who instantly perked her head up after hearing her brother say her name.

"Yeah, Johnny?" Cassidy asked

"Can you please attempt calming Jocelyn down? I've tried for about sixteen minutes or so," Johnny sighed in defeat, and Cassidy tiredly nodded her head as she stood up from where she was seating.

Cassidy then reached her arms out and carefully and gentle took the youngest crying Cade, as Johnny's arms fell straight down to his sides, releasing a deep breath as a hearable sigh for everyone to hear. The rest of the gang continued watching as Cassidy gently placed Jocelyn against her chest, pushing her head down with a loving touch afterwards.

"Shh...oh, shush, shush...please, Jocelyn..._please _stop crying..." Cassidy pleaded in a sighing tone as she playfully and consolingly bounched Jocelyn in her arms to attempt to calm her down that way. However, it still didn't seem that it worked. Jocelyn was still bursting out tears, her face bright red and covered with wetness of her steaming hot tears.

Johnny began searching through Jocelyn's baby bag for her pink binky, but he just couldn't find it, so he attempted giving Jocelyn her rattle for her to playfully shake and have fun with, but Jocelyn only cried and cried even more, not wanting to take the toy from Johnny-cake, while she berried her face into Cassidy's shoulder, drenching her shirts sleeve with her hot tears.

The two older Cade's stared at each other with complete sorrow pouts showing off both of their faces, and you could tell that they were in desperate need of both help, and some fun, because the two of them technically raised Jocelyn with Mr and Mrs. Cade being abusive drug attics and alcholics and all, and like all babies did, Jocelyn got rough from time to time for questioning reasons. At that moment, she wasn't hungry. She didn't want any of her toys. She didn't need to be changed. None of the Greasers, nor Johnny or Cassidy for a change, knew what to do to help Jocelyn cheer up and stop her loud, echoing cries.

"What's wrong with Jocelyn?! She's been crying for nearly twenty minutes straight! _Nobody _cries for at least twenty minutes straight!" Two-bit objected with his voice exclaiming for the others to hear what he just said, his hands pressed over his ears for him to attempt to tune out Jocelyn's loud cries, but it wouldn't work. Dally narrowed his eyes at the wisecracker of the gang in an angry manner as he stood up from where he was sitting, then he thumped Two-bit over the back of his head. After that, Two-bit obviously let out a "Ow!" from his lips, and Dallas walked over to Cassidy, taking Jocelyn out of her arms and snuggling her up close to his chest. Surprisingly to the whole gang, Jocelyn had stopped crying and started only whimpering a bit as she laid her head peacefully on Dally's chest and started sucking on her thumb.

Johnny and Cassidy both exchanged releaved expressions as they released deep, releaved sighs from their mouths, which echoed along with the rest of the Greasers releaved deep breaths. Seriously, Darry hasn't heard _that _much crying since his two kid brothers were first born, and Dallas never heard crying that loud either since his and Amanda's baby sister, Hope, was born, too, but however, she past away at the age of three from an accident that neither Dally or Amanda ever enjoyed bringing up one bit. Seriously, who _would actually _want to talk about their little dead sibling?! Nobody!

"Man, Johnny-cake! Cass! _How in the world _are you guys used to all of this baby stuff? Ya know, all of the crying, bottle feedings, dirty diapers, and all of that?!" Two-bit questioned

Cassidy just bit down on her lip and shrugged her shoulders as Johnny stuffed his hands into his jeans jackets pockets and just flashed his questioning look at everybody in the room, meaning that he didn't know how to respond with for Two-bit's question.

"Well, Johnny's had tons of practice and experience after I was born, technically raising me and all, but as I grew up and Jocelyn was born, Johnny's been technically raising us both while I helped along with Jocelyn's love, care, happiness, and just her life in general," Cassidy explained

"And not only that, but considering that our folks adore makin' 'em more then raisin' 'em, Carla and I have had plently of years with the same process and whatnot," Johnny added onto what his first little sibling just spoke.

Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Haven't you two ever considered taking a break?"

Cassidy grinned. "You're kidding, right?" she laughed at Steve's comment, and Johnny couldn't help himself to chuckle a bit himself while he cracked his small, handsome grin, too.

Steve cocked an eyebrow in a confusing manner, as he crossed his arms across his chest and gazed at the two oldest Cade's with complete concern, while the rest of the Greasers went on with whatever they were all doing, but they continued listening to every single word that came out of both or either of the Cade's mouths. Ponyboy went on doodling a neatly drawn picture of the gang on a piece of paper, while Darry flipped through the newspapers pages, and Kitten watched Soda and Two-bit arm-wrestle. Lastly, Dallas was busy now holding and playing with little Jocelyn, making her giggle adorably as he playfully and gently tapped her nose and gave her a few kisses on the top of her head.

"Oh, you're serious," Johnny then said to Steve, his black eyes now widened from finding that surprising, and he stuck his hands back into his blue jeans jackets pockets again. Steve continued gazing at the two oldest Cade's with his cocked eyebrow and confused expression as he nodded his head three times. Feeling sort of embarrassed now, Johnny could feel his cheeks starting to heat up, and he gazed down at his sock wearing feet, the embarrassment now eating away at him. Cassidy started feeling a bit blushed up herself from feeling so awkward after she just laughed at Steve's comment, but she knew that Johnny wouldn't say anything back, so she decided to speak up.

"It ain't that easy to have a break when you're raising a baby, Steve. Johnny and I go to school all day, go home and feed and take care of Jocelyn without our folks even paying attention, wake up at least four times each night to take turns comforting Jocelyn, and many more things," Cassidy explained as she placed her hands on her hips and released a deep breath before going on with her speaking. "Johnny and I just don't have much time at all to spend time for relaxing when we're busy with Jocelyn,"

"She ain't any trouble or anything," Johnny came into the conversation then, breaking through the embarrassment that was still draining inside of him the best he could, while he shook his head to fit in with what he just promised about the youngest Cade. "It's just that...all babies are difficult at many points, but at other points during different times, it's all different, as if the roughness never exsisted,"

"Good heavens, Johnny! Cassidy! When is the last time you two ever got any sleep?!" Soda asked, trying his best to push Two-bit's arm down the opposite direction and force it to the top of the coffee table, but since Sodapop was so caught up in Cassidy and Johnny now, he finally allowed his arm to fall with Two-bit's grasp still gripping his fingers, claiming the wisecracker of the Greasers gang the winner of the his and Soda's arm-wrestling match.

Cassidy and Johnny both exchanged ordinary expressions as the two of them thought heavily about Sodapop's question, shrugging their shoulders at the same time, while they both spoke out at the same exact moment with sighing tones, "...Three days ago..."

Okay, seriously, just hearing _those _three words come out from Cassidy's and Johnny's mouths just instantly made the Greasers all widen their eyes as they completely dropped what they were all doing before without any moment of hesitation, and everyone's full attention was completely undivided on the two oldest Cade's, who looked still embarrassed, and you could tell that they were tired by the yawns that they were holding back as they rubbed their eyes a bit.

"Three days?! Dang!" Dally exclaimed "how in the heck do you two even get through school?!"

"...You just get used to the wake-up calls," Johnny answered with a single shrug of his shoulders, and the gang instantly knew that he was referring around him and Cassidy being completely used to, or at least they were _getting _used to waking up all the time from Jocelyn's whimpers and cries during the very late nighttime or very early morning hours. At that moment then, the Greasers gang convinced Johnny and Cassidy to just head out and get some fresh air, having time to relax with each other at the park or at the movies, the Dingo, anywhere that was on their sight of town with no Socs and not many worries in the darkness of the fall hour of 6:35 P.M. At first, Johnny and Cassidy attempted turning the gangs kind offer down, telling them thanks afterwards. However, the two of them recieved smirks from everybody in the gang, and Darry informed the two oldest Cade's that they wouldn't take no for an answer, because they've haven't had any relaxation time to just kick back and enjoy themselves for a long while now.

"Don't worry, Johnny-cake. You don't worry either, Carla, ya hear? We'll watch Jocelyn while the two of you just head on out and have some times to yourselves," Ponyboy promised the exact same promise that came out of Darry's, Soda's, and Dally's mouths already, but still, Cassidy and Johnny objected it. Nevertheless, after taking in the promises for about a million times, or what at least _felt _like a million times, Johnny and Cassidy gave in, slipping on their shoes and giving their youngest baby sister two small family kisses on her lips, right before they thanked the gang for doing this even though they didn't have to, and the two Cade's slipped their way out the front door of the Curtis's house, Cassidy catching the door and carefully closing it all the way until it was completely shut after she departed with Johnny.

"So, where do you want to go to just hang out, Johnny-cake?" Cassidy asked as she quickly trotted over to where Johnny was waiting for her at the bottom of the Curtis's driveway with his sweet, warming, small grin plastered on his face, and his black eyes shined handsomely under the moon and starlight.

Johnny simply just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head two times after Cassidy made it back over to his side, which is when he took a hold of her hand so the two of them wouldn't part in the darkness of the fall evening. "I don't know," Johnny then shrugged again while he thought heavily about Cassidy's question. "Wherever you want to go, I guess will be fine, as long as it ain't in Soc territory, of course,"

Cassidy smiled back up at her brother as she held herself close to his side, completely loving the warm and love that was bonding around the two of them as they caringly held each other close with an absolute embrace of two loving siblings. Cassidy then started questioning to herself in her mind on where she and Johnny could hang out and just kick back to relax and releave themselves like their other fellow Greasers told them to do. Hm...it was too dark and chilly to hang out outside, so the park was absoluetly not going to be the place...and all of the movies that were playing in the movie theater were all movies that Johnny and Cassidy had already watched with the rest of the gang. The Dingo didn't feel like such a great place to just hang out and relax either, because during that time of the evening, there's usually beer-blasts and wildly dangerous bar fights that break out of the bloom. Finally though, after about twenty seconds of careful and heavy thinking and considering, a lightbulb flicked on in Cassidy's mind as her pretty grin grew even more beautiful and bright.

"How 'bout the bowling alley? It seems like a good place to releave stress and whatnot, rolling a ball down at pins that can resemble Socs," Cassidy explained with complete cheerfulness as she giggled a bit at her own wordplay.

Johnny continued smiling his kind, heart-warming grin as he playfully cocked an eyebrow at Cassidy, then muttered to himself, "No more being the first at our Greaser sleepovers with Dallas,", as he playfully rolled his eyes. Obviously, Johnny wanted Cassidy to hear him at least a bit, and Johnny instantly knew that she did hear him because she had playfully battered his arm with a couple of slaps, right before the oldest Cade playfully snatched her up from the ground and hung her over his shoulder, the two Cade's laughing and already feeling completely relaxed by just being with each other, and getting a chance to just calm down to talk instead of worrying about Jocelyn doing something if they're not keeping their eyes on her, or if even Two-bit busts yet another lamp of the Curtis's. Nevertheless, it was official to the two oldest Cade's that their next stop would be the bowling alley.

Meanwhile while those Greasers were up to their usual stuff at the Curtis's house, and with Cassidy and Johnny heading to the boweling alley, it just so happens to be that time to see what's going on with Sondra and Iris Prescott, who were both back at Charlie's house now. The two Prescott girls weren't supposed to see Charlie and/or Rebecca again until the next day, but it just so happened that Charlie had suggested Rebecca to just stay the night at his place so the two of them could have another lesson with Iris and her blindness that night. And so, that was what was done.

Sondra was resting back on the black couch in Charlie's family room, sitting up with her legs properly crossed and her head resting on her right arms clenched fist, its elbow resting just a little below her right knee, as her pale blue eyes watched Rebecca, who was dressed in her white plush robe that was decorated with light pink roses, along with a pair of hot pink, silky pajama pants and a matching tank-top, and her beautiful dark hair was tied back in a glorious ponytail. Rebecca gently took a hold of Iris's hands and pulled carefully, helping her up from the light tan carpeted floor after she had stumbled over and fell. But still, the seven-year-old girl didn't need to blink at all...

"It's okay, Iris. You almost had that one," Rebecca complimented as she carefully and lovingly patted Iris's back a few times, which still didn't make her blink once, and Rebecca then took another gentle hold of Iris's little hands again so she could help her regain her balance. Charlie was there in his living room, too, dressed in his solid white nighttime T-shirt and a pair of gray pajama pants, and he had just recieved Iris's guider, or her cane, from the carpeted floor from where Iris dropped it after she stumbled over and fell.

Charlie and Rebecca had came up with this idea for Iris's guider lesson by placing some soft, or some small things, while others were medium-sized and maybe a little hard or rough objects on the carpeted floor so Iris could learn to tell what certain things were when she knocked into them. But this was more household common stuff, like a pillow, an empty soda can, or just even the couches and wooden stands. Iris would learn to use her guider on the street by Rebecca and Charlie sooner then later. On the other hand, if Iris _didn't _bump into anything, which was difficult obviously, she would then be learning how to actually avoid hitting into things.

"Try it again, Iris," Charlie ordered kindly, as he carefully and gently clenched the little seven-year-old girls fingers around her guider, and then he and Rebecca backed off to leave Iris be so she could continue her lesson.

Iris began slowly walking around the living room, being very careful so she wouldn't trip over her own feet again, and she tried her best to keep her guider on the floor, but she sometimes had this bad habit of picking it up from the ground and swinging it around in the air so she could attempt guiding herself that way. However, if she _did _do that, she could instantly hit someone or possibly drop her cane and she wouldn't be able to find it, due to her blindness.

"Remember to keep your guider on the ground, Iris," Charlie reminded, standing close by Rebecca's side while the two of them stayed back from Iris, who placed her guider back down on the floor instantly after she heard Charlie's kind and handsome voice ask her to do so from a little back behind her.

"Okay...Charlie...I got...it..." Iris assured, her brain damage still causing her to stutter with her words once again, and it was painful for Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca to all understand that Iris would always have to live with her words stammering from her mouth and blindness contained in her whitish-grayish eyes.

The youngest Prescott continued tracing her guider around on the carpeted floor as she slowly walked, and she felt then the guiders top gently tap against something. Iris froze still as she confusedly tilted her head slowly, her glowing eyes still remaining open the entire time, as she brought her guider back a couple of times and gently tapped it against the object that she gently banged into.

Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca watched and listened quietly with their full, undivided attention on the seven-year-old blind girl, who lifted her head back up and turned around towards the wall, thinking that was where Rebecca and Charlie were standing because since she's obviously blind, she can't tell which direction is which.

"...A paper...plate..." Iris fumbled out her words, and she was correct, but Charlie, Rebecca, and Sondra were frowning now because they hated seeing how Iris couldn't see them, nor see anything at all...and if either of them ever got to grant a wish...they'd wish for Iris to have her eye sight that she always dreamed about having.

"That's correct, but..." Rebecca sighed "...we're over here, Iris,"

Iris's eyes remained opened as they always did, as she slowly turned her body over to the direction where she heard Rebecca's sweet and kind voice informing her that she and Charlie weren't there at the wall. Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca realized how red Iris's face was looking now, but it was out of embarrassment, because she made a mistake by thinking she was facing Rebecca and Charlie when she was truly facing the wall.

"...I'm sorry..." Iris apologized, her voice soft and ordinary, which most people would think was creepy, as if Iris was one of those blind people from the horror movies that always spoke with the same tone and whatnot, but Iris wasn't completely like that. She wasn't even creepy one bit according to Sondra, Rebecca, and/or Charlie. She was just blind.

Charlie then formed one of his handsome, innocent smirks as he walked up to the seven-year-old girl and started tickling her, which made both Rebecca and even Sondra grin a bit their beautiful smiles, while Iris smiled her pretty, adorable, little smile, and she giggled her adorable laughter until Charlie finally let up, chuckling along a bit with the adorable little girl.

"There's no need for any apologizes, Iris," Charlie promised as he gave her a little gentle, playful tap on her nose, which made Iris giggle a bit more, and she threw her arms around Charlie's neck, giving him a sweet and loving, bright bear hug. Iris was a smart, but yet curious little girl. She knew how to hug Charlie without any hesitation because she knew when she felt when Charlie tapped her on her nose, it gave it away that he was right in front of her, resting on his knees in front of little Iris. Charlie connected his arms around the little girls back and smiled his own bright, handsome grin, while Rebecca felt happy tears fill her eyes a bit when staring at the scene, and she walked over to the two of them. She placed one of her hands on Charlie's shoulder, and the two of them exchanged smiles, right before Rebecca moved down and kissed the top of Iris's head.

"Anyone can make a mistake like that, Iris. Charlie nearly does it every time he wakes up in the morning," Rebecca giggled at just the plain thought of remembering how Charlie was talking to her one early school morning, but he was staring at the wall.

"Hey! I'm not a morning person!" Charlie objected as he released Iris from his arms and stood back up on his bare feet. He then gazed back down at the little seven-year-old girl, seeing how she was now looking up at him because she followed the tone of his voice when he stood up. Charlie and Rebecca were both now feeling the same thought in their brains, thinking that just looking at the blind little girl brought the song "Special Death" by this lady named Mirah into their heads. It was a soft and gentle tune, followed by this Mirah persons soft voice singing about whoever the song was about. It was actually a very good song, but it was sort of creepy at the same time at the timing that Rebecca and Charlie were both in.

"Let's try your cane again, Iris. You're doing very well tonight," Rebecca complimented, and Charlie nodded his head with absolute agreement, but since Iris couldn't see how he was nodding, he said the exact words, "Rebecca's right. You're improving big time,"

Iris grinned again. "Okay, Rebecca...okay, Charlie..."

Charlie and Rebecca backed away from the little seven-year-old girl again as Sondra continued sitting where she was on the couch, watching everything while she desperatly wished that Iris wasn't born with blindness or any brain damage thanks to Spring and that she could've taken her place if she could've, but Sondra was the one who was born without any issues or problems. Iris had traced her guider around on the floor for about another two minutes, and after she passed at guessing what everything was, Rebecca started cleaning the stuff and objects up from the floor as Charlie took Iris's guider away from her and told her to sit down. The reason why Charlie took her guider away from her was because since Iris was such a curious little girl, she'd keep tracing around if she could, so Charlie or Rebecca would take her cane away from her and tell her to sit down on the floor so she wouldn't attempt to walk around by herself with or without her guider.

"Okay, Iris, we're going to do the brail cards again, alright?" Rebecca asked as she collected up the small box of brail cards, and Iris only nodded her head as she ran her fingers through her hair, wishing that she knew how she looked.

"Um, Rebecca? Charlie? I'm going to go out for a bit," Sondra told her and Iris's only two friends as she stood up from the sofa and snatched up her light blue jeans jacket from the coat rack that was in the corner of the living room.

"You're going where?" Charlie asked, sort of bewildered at what Sondra just said.

"Out," Sondra answered, slipping on her light blue, worn out, slightly dirty jeans jacket and fixing its collar around her neck a bit better.

"Baby, I don't think that's such a great idea," Rebecca informed the eldest Prescott, as she handed the box of brail cards over to Charlie, who then opened the box and handed the brail cards down to Iris so she could study the brail herself for a few moments.

"Why not?" Sondra asked as she stuffed her hands into her jeans jackets pockets and innocently stared at Rebecca and Charlie, who were both staring right back at her with concern looks on their faces, and Iris just went on with rubbing her right hands pointer finger around on the brail cards one at a time, muttering and mumbling herself with her adorable tone what the word was.

"We just don't think it's that safe for a kid like you to walk 'round town by yourself in this shade of the dark," Charlie explained

"I'm fourteen, Charlie! I'm not a little child anymore!" Sondra objected as she slipped on her worn out tennis shoes that were resting beside the couch.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders at Sondra's comment about her age. "Still, you're a young teenaged girl walking all by herself down the street in the darkness of Greaser territory. We're Regulars here, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Sondra mumbled with a single roll of her eyes. "I was already reminded of it by some Socs in a yellow Mustang earlier today when I was walking home from school...yeah...Mustangs are tuff,"

"Yeah, yeah, Baby. Socs drive Mustangs, Greasers drive old souped-up cars, and we drive SUV's. We're still Regulars no matter what, so we better get used to calling ourselves tuff one way or the other," Charlie informed, and even though that Sondra hated being known as a Regular, she agreed with what Charlie just said, just like Rebecca and even Iris did. Yep, Iris does know what Greasers and Socs are, and she knows everything about them, just like Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca do.

"Hey, I'm not saying that we _aren't _tuff, but were just not as tuff as the Greasers and the Socs," Sondra explained "but I don't want to talk 'bout that now. I just want to go take a fresh walk in town and hang out maybe in our lot, or just stop by the Dingo. Maybe go fetch some fun at the bowling alley, I don't know. I just want to get out and enjoy the darkness of the night, ya dig?"

Rebecca pouted a bit as she walked up to Sondra and placed her hand on her shoulder, but the exact second that she did, Sondra's pale blue eyes shot big as she released a "Ow!" from her lips. The outburst was so unexpected that it made Iris yelp a little, and made Charlie jump a little bit. Rebecca immidiately took her hand away from Sondra's shoulder, but then she gently peaked under her long sleeves of her light blue jeans jacket and black and red checkered shirt to reveal a new, nasty, red slash mark, which was from where Dominic swung his leather belt down earlier that day and the leather echoed off a loud, painful **_SMACK_ **sound after the belt slapped right off of Sondra's shoulder, and the fourteen-year-old girl used her tears to wipe on the terrible slash mark that formed on her red slash part of her skin that was over the top of her shoulder.

Rebecca's eyes grew big as Charlie's mouth fell open to form a big 'O' shape, the two of them completely shocked in the new terrible wound that was now printed on Sondra's right shoulder.

"What the heck happened to your shoulder, Baby?!" Charlie blurted out in shock after ten or so seconds of the silence danced around in the room, awkwardly.

"Nothing! Nothing at all happened!" Sondra exclaimed, her tone sort of nervous as she hid the nasty red slash underneath her long sleeves fabric again. Iris didn't need to see the scene, nor could she even if she wanted to, to know about Rebecca and Charlie finding out about Sondra's recent injury from their father. Iris remembered the loud _**SLASH** _that was heard from the whistling of the leather belt coming down in the opposite room across the hall on the second floor of the Prescott's house...followed by the loud, echoing **_SMACK_**...and then Sondra's loud and painful, crying scream.

"Oh, so you don't know how you suddenly got this new mark today?" Rebecca asked, her tone in that kind of way that was asking her if she was kidding.

"I rode my bike again today, okay?! I ended up falling off once again and my shoulder slid across the concrete, scraping my shoulder with this long, tender slash! _That's _how I got this terrible mark, okay?! Now, if you guys will excuse me, I'm guessing I'll head out to the bowling alley! I'll be back in an hour or so!" After that, Sondra stomped right out of the room and left out the front door of Charlie's house, slamming the door shut behind her instead of catching it behind her or closing it gently herself like she'd usually do it.

Iris went on reading and feeling the bumps of her brail cards, as if she didn't hear what her older sis just did and said, and Charlie walked up to Rebecca's side, the two of them still looking completely surprised after Sondra's departure.

"You think something is going on with Baby, Charlie? Like...she's hiding something from us?" Rabecca asked in such a soft whisper so only Charlie could hear her words.

"I don't know 'bout you, Becky, but I have a feeling that something _is _wrong," Charlie whispered back.

Rabecca shrugged her shoulders. "Really? How? Is it because of her and Iris's injuries?"

"Well, yeah, there's that," Charlie did what Rabecca did and shrugged his shoulders. "But also...it just hit me that Baby doesn't have a bike,"

Meanwhile with Sondra, she was walking and walking all by herself in the darkness of the night in Greaser territory, the soft, cool breeze whistling through the air as the colorful leaves scraped against the gray sidewalk and some crunched under her tennis shoes. Sondra kept her pale blue eyes looking down directly at her old, worn out tennis shoes, as a single tear formed in her right eye and it dripped down her cheek. She was remembering how awful she hollered at Charlie and Rebecca right before she stomped out of the house, and not only that, but the horrible memories of Dominic's and Spring's painful beatings and horrible words being thrown all around at her more then Iris, but Iris still got the same terrible treatments. Sondra though just attempted shaking it off as she continued walking for ten minutes straight, which is when she arrived at the boweling alley. Just as the fourteen-year-old girl was about to enter through the front doors, she froze still when she gazed through the glass to see...Socs...and two Greasers...

Sondra's eyes shot huge as her mouth dropped open. Those Socs weren't just Socs...they were the Socs that followed her home in their yellow Mustang! And one of those Greasers Sondra remembered from her classes in her new school. He had dark tan skin and greasy black hair, along with an innocent pair of black eyes...Johnny Cade. Sondra could see those Socs all gathering around Johnny, who was holding Cassidy close to him so she wouldn't get grabbed or anything like that by any of the Socs, who were laughing and mocking them, trying their best to kick them down with horrible foul language, but Johnny and Cassidy just wouldn't let them have what they wanted that easy.

Sondra knew Johnny Cade, even though they never talked. She's seen how shy and kind he was around with the other Greasers, and how bright and funny he got when you got really close to him. All Sondra was thinking about at that moment was that...she wasn't going to allow those Socs to hurt Johnny and whoever Cassidy was to him.

"What are you two grease-heads going to do?! Huh?! Answer me!" that redhead Soc with white skin, who just so happened to be named Nick, exclaimed at Johnny and Cassidy, while his best friend with the black hair and dark skin named Blake, laughed along with their other three friends, Jake, Jerry, and Tom.

"Look, we don't want any trouble. We just came to hang out with a simple game of bowling..is that too much to ask?" Johnny asked, his voice in its usual soft and innocent stage that was now filled with some trembling fear.

"And considering that this is our territory, you five shouldn't even be here," Cassidy added on to what her brother just said to the Socs. "So, you guys better watch it!"

"No, girly, you better watch it, ya hear?!" Nick threatened as he shot his pointer finger furiously at the second oldest Cade, who flinched a bit while she released a little yelp from her lips. To the five Socs surprise though, just as they started laughing, Johnny created a glare on his face as he smacked Nick's hand away from Cassidy..._hard!_

The four male Socs released gasps together as their leader, a.k.a Nick, pulled his hand back and rubbed his skin from where it was starting to turn red from Johnny's hard and stinging slap. Nick narrowed his eyes in a blustering way as he angrily clenched his teeth, and he snarled while he scrunched his nose up, as if he was some upset junkyard dog, and his cold and heartless marble-like eyes looked back up and met Johnny, who was still glaring, but on the inside, he was more scared then ever before.

"Who do you think you are?!" Nick angrily exclaimed at Johnny, nearly spitting with every word he proclaimed from his lips.

"You don't threaten my sister like that!" Johnny demanded, his voice filled with angry bitterness to protect his little sister.

Nick then angrily grabbed a hold of Johnny by his shirt with both of his hands and yanked him hard until the two of them were directly in front of each other. "I asked you a question! _Who _do _you _think you _are_, Grease?!" Nick exclaimed

"Cool it! Let me go!" Johnny bellowed, his voice now starting to panic, but the five Socs just laughed at the sixteen-year-old Cade as Nick pulled back one of his hands, which was now clenched in a tight fist. Johnny's black eyes grew big as Cassidy cuffed her hands over her mouth and let out a terrified gasp. It seriously felt like the color had rushed out of both of their bodies color, but before Nick could even fling his fist back foward, a female voice was heard hollering out a loud "Hey!", followed by one of the front doors of the bowling alley squeaking shut.

Johnny released a deep breath of relief when Nick let him go to turn around and see who it was who ordered him to technically release the eldest Cade.

"Johnny! Are you okay?!" Cassidy asked

"Yeah, I'm okay, Carla," Johnny whispered as he wrapped his arms back around his little sister to protect her. Cassidy could feel how hot Johnny now was, and that was all because he was afraid of the Socs that were jumping them. But now, Johnny and Cassidy were both peaking to see who was it that just hollered out that loud, echoing "Hey!" and then...it happened. Just when Johnny didn't think he could get any hotter...he caught a glimpse of that golden blonde Regular. Sondra.

Johnny's eyes grew a bit big again as he watched Sondra just stand there in front of one of the lanes, behind some of the bowling balls with her face now beating red and her pale blue eyes narrowed at the scene. Johnny knew who she was, but he never talked to her and he didn't even know her name. All he did know about her was that she was a tomboy Regular...and even though nobody called her pretty or beautiful or anything like that...Johnny actually...thought that she was a very nice girl. He didn't need to talk to her to just know how sweet and shy, and not to mention goldenly sensitive she was.

Nick suddenly bursting out into his fits of handsome, but yet annoying laughter, as his eyes watered from laughing so much. Blake clenched his stomach from laughing a whole lot, too, and Tom and Jake gave each other a high-five while Jerry slapped his hand down over his own knee, laughing away with their leader and Blake.

"Well, well, well, look at what we got here, boys. It's that Regular we were following earlier this afternoon," Nick snickered, placing his hands on his hips. "How ya doin', broad?"

It had only been one day and Sondra has heard herself been called a broad too many times. She had enough of it. Her eyes flooded with pure anger, as if they were going to turn from their sweet and pastel color of pale blue, to deadly blood red.

"Leave them alone, you bunch of-" Sondra went on and on calling the five Socs every word in the book, as Johnny's eyes grew big all over again and his mouth dropped open, his hands now remaining over Cassidy's ears. Dang, Sondra's language was so foul (because she picked it up from Spring and Dominic) that it could even make Dallas Winston and Tim and Curly Shepard blush from being so surprised. "You have no right to jump 'em just because they're not like you *beep*! Why don't yawl take the last of your *beep* pride and leave us the *beep* alone!"

Blake clenched his teeth angrily as he snarled, snatching up a bowling ball and throwing it right at the oldest Prescott, who released a gasp after realizing what all she just said, and she quickly dove to the ground before the ball could smash into her. The bowling ball flew over her body and smashed into the wall, right before it fell to the wooden floor without any other motion.

"Girl, look out!" Johnny called out to Sondra, and when she quickly stood back up on her feet, she was greeted by her arms getting grabbed and pinned around her back by Jerry, right before Tom nailed her hard in the stomach. Sondra hollered out a great howl of pain as her pale blue eyes shimmered with pleading tears, and Johnny began to tremble to the point that you could just see him standing there, his whole body shaking as tears started dripping out of his black eyes at the horrible sight. Johnny wanted to yell out for the Socs to back off from her, but he was too scared to even get a word out, so he just continued crying as he held Cassidy, who was now crying also, close to his side.

Suddenly though, the doors of the boweling alley flew open, and here came running in...Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris.

Rebecca and Charlie were now wearing their jackets over their pajamas with their tennis shoes being worn on their feet, and Rebecca was holding Iris's hand, while Iris's other hand clenched her pink and white guider. Charlie and Rebecca instantly formed ticked off scowls upon their faces that were now red when their eyes met the five Socs that were now around Sondra, trying their best to knock her down on the floor and physically hurt her, but with Rebecca and Charlie there now, they weren't going to let that happen.

"HEY!" Charlie bellowed out, which instantly won over all five of the Socs full, undivided attention. "LET HER GO!"

"Yeah, ya heard him, let me-" Sondra began, but she was cut off by her getting dropped to the floor with a loud '_Bang!_' being heard after she landed flat on her back on the wooden floor. "Gently, people, gently," Sondra then muttered to herself as she stood up from the floor and rushed over to some of the chairs, diving behind them because she knew when Charlie and Rebecca got mad about protection, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Stay here, Iris," Rebecca whispered into the little seven-year-old girls ear, before she released her hand and walked away from her, until she was now by Charlie's side, the two of them now glaring furiously at the five Socs. All Charlie and Rebecca were doing in town that night was teaching Iris for a little bit to use her guider outdoors, and when and if she banged the top of her guider onto something, like a pole or a bench, Charlie and Rebecca would take turns explaining what it was and what it was used for to the little, blind seven-year-old girl. But since they were heading past the bowling alley, Rebecca and Charlie decided to see through the glass windows to see how Sondra was doing, and the exact moment that they saw those five Socs all going after her to harm her, their protective sides kicked in and they immdiately bashed into the bowling alley.

Nick placed his hands on his hips as he released his laughs from his mouth, taking two different gazes from the bottom of the two teenagers feet to the top of their heads.

"Boys, look what we got here! Two Regulars coming to the rescue in their pajamas!" Nick burst out into his hystarical laughter as his four friends followed his example, but his laughter was cut off when Charlie stomped up in front of him and grabbed him by his shirt with one heck of a tough grip.

"We live in Tulsa! We've seen crazier things!" Charlie nearly spit in the Socs face on purpose, but before Nick got a chance to even string foul words back together in any kind of sentence, Charlie flew his other hand back in a rock-hard fist and then swung it foward, connecting it under Nick's chin and sending him down to the floor.

"Nick!" Blake gasped, and just as he began cursing Charlie out, Charlie nailed him right in the nose, which instantly gave Blake a bloody nose when he fell straight down onto the floor also.

Just as Jerry was about to kick Charlie hard with Tom for back up, Rebecca bolted towards the two of them and karate-kicked Tom straight in the gut, right before she felt Jerry tie his arms around her waist from behind, but Rebecca instantly slammed her foot down onto Jerry's, making him release a howl of pain, and then Rebecca used his arms to slide herself around, which is when she nailed him hard in the cheek, forcing Jerry to release her, right before Rebecca then hopped down on top of him and began fighting. She fought Jerry and Tom while Charlie handled Nick and Blake, and Sondra hid behind the little row of chairs crying, Johnny and Cassidy also sheding many tears as they held each other close. But there was still one more Soc that needed to be handled with. Jake. However, Charlie and Rebecca were too busy fighting the other four Socs that they didn't pay any mind to realize Jake as he began snickering and walking over to..._Iris!_

Iris just stood there, not moving a muscle or blinking at all, as her whitish-grayish eyes glew under the light of the different ceiling lights. But what Jake didn't expect was, just because the youngest Prescott was blind, that didn't mean that she didn't know how to use her other senses.

Iris knew how to use her sense of smell to understand that the Greasers usually smelt like cigarette ashes and beer, while the Socs smelt heavily of whiskey, shaving-cream, and all kinds of different colognes. The little seven-year-old girl also used her sense of hearing to listen carefully to anything that came her way, and at that moment, Iris could hear Jake's snickering and heavy boots coming in her direction, which is when she remembered what Rebecca taught her about health and the different parts of the body. Rebecca had stroked Iris's hand over her own body to tell her what the the body parts were, just in case she was ever alone and needed to fight for herself, so she would know where to aim. Taking in all that she has learned, Iris clenched her hands over each other on her pink and white guider, which was still on the ground, and then she heard the sound of Jake's heavy boots stop, right before she felt his hand grip her shoulder. Iris didn't show any sign or fear or sadness though. She was a mighty brave, little, young blind girl.

"You can't see me," Jake chuckled, finding it actually funny that Iris was blind, but right after he said that, there was a little pause of nothing but silence between the youngest blind Prescott and the brunette-haired Soc...but before Jake could even see it coming with his own eyes..._**WHAM!**_

Iris struck him hard on the side of his head, which instantly caused him to fall over to the ground with a loud "Ow!" being released from his lips. Jake could now swear that he was hearing this ringing sound echoing throughout the few brain cells that he actually had within his head, but before he could leap back up, Iris had followed the sound of his thump to the ground and his voice when he said "Ow!", and the seven-year-old girl began hitting the Soc over and over again with her cane, clenching it tightly with both of her small hands every time she swung it back up and dashed it back down all over different parts of Jake's body, while Jake just howled in different moans and groans of individual pains. Still, Iris didn't blink a single time, while her eyes glittered and glew under the lights, and she followed Jake's painful howls of pain as she continued beating him down with her cane, not saying a single word and still not needing to ever blink a single time. _**WHAM! WHACK! BANG! WHAM! WHACK! BANG!**_

Jake kept his hands cuffed over his head as his body began stinging and feeling completely sore from Iris's strong hits and whips of her guider. Hey, just because she was blind and only seven, didn't mean that she wasn't strong. Iris was a mighty tough girl for her age.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop it, little girl! I'm not a pinata!" Jake exclaimed as he quickly rolled away when Iris had swung her cane back up, and she instantly stopped when it swung down and she heard it hit the wooden floor. That instantly gave it away to Iris that she had taken care of Jake when he was on the ground, but now she didn't know where he was when he was standing up. Jake was right in front of her, quietly moaning to himself as he rubbed his head, neck, arms, and ribs from where Iris struck him the most with his guider as he glared down at the blind girl.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" came Charlie's voice as he bashed over to Jake and tackled him back down to the wooden floor before he could get the chance to even touch Iris.

Sondra didn't take any hesitation to quickly come out from her hiding spot and take a hold of one of her little sisters hands, which is when she told her to follow her, and the two Prescott girls trotted back over to behind the single row of chairs, which is when Sondra told Iris to sit down, which she did, then Sondra took away her cane so she wouldn't wander away, just like Rebecca and/or Charlie would do.

Sondra watched, her heart racing rapidly in her chest like a wild horse, as she stared at how scared the Socs were now of Rebecca and Charlie as they continued fighting them off with painful kicks and strong, striking punches, while the two protective teenagers started cursing them out with every word they could think of, and Sondra instantly commanded Iris to cover her ears, which the youngest Prescott did after hearing her older sisters order. As Sondra continued watching, she felt a hand touch her shoulder from being. Sondra's eyes grew a bit as her heart took one major leap in her chest, and without any hesitation, the eldest Prescott shot herself around. It was Johnny and only Johnny, who had Cassidy standing a little furthur away from him, but Sondra immdiately swung Iris's cane around in order to protect the two of them that she didn't get a chance to see who it was. Nevertheless, Sondra instantly knew who it was after Johnny's hand flew to his nose, which was now bleeding a bit from where she had striked him with the cane.

"Oh my god!" Sondra exclaimed to herself in her head as she covered her mouth that was now hanging open with her free hand that was no longer holding onto Iris's guider with her other hand. Sondra allowed her eyes to grow bigger from feeling so embarrassed, shocked, and startled all in one, as she waited for the worse that would come to her from this Greaser. "What did I just do?!"

"Um...hello to you, too," Johnny greeted, holding back his stinging pain as he kept the hand he was covering his slightly bloody nose with actually up and covering his slimly bloody nose.

"Johnny, are you alright?!" Cassidy asked, nervously

"I'm alright, Carla, don't worry," Johnny answered his little sister as he playfully patted her head a couple of times, as if she was a little puppy-dog.

Wow, Sondra thought to herself, as if she was completely alone with Johnny with nothing else being heard but the sweet and completely innocent, soft sound of his voice speaking to her, and no one else was in sight. He was surprisingly being very gentle and caring towards the girl who just swung him hard in the face with Iris's guider.

"I-I'm s-so..." Sondra stuttered out the best she could, but she instantly shut herself up when Johnny's kind, loving, and innocent black eyes made contact with her pastel, light, pale blue eyes. She was so quiet that Johnny could hardly even hear what her voice sounded like, and he deseratley wished to himself that he _did_ know her voice...and not to mention her name.

"It's cool. Don't worry 'bout it. It's just a little bit of blood," Johnny assured the fourteen-year-old girl as he wiped away the red liquid from his nose with his jeans jackets sleeve. That's when Sondra realized that his jeans jacket matched hers exactly, except his was darker blue and hers was light blue.

"..I-It's n-not..." Sondra muttered under her breath, but Johnny could still tell just by the way she looked that she was still really bugged 'bout it, hitting him in the nose on accident and all.

"I promise you that it's fine. It's alright. Trust me, I've been through way worse," Johnny told the fourteen-year-old girl, while Cassidy nodded her head with absolute agreement, but Sondra only looked at him as she thought to herself that she has totally been through way worse also, just like Iris, too...but Sondra didn't say a word back to Johnny. Instead, the eldest and the second oldest Cade watched confusedly as Sondra took a quick hold of Iris's hand and pulled her up to the floor, right before the two of them quickly trotted away until they were out in front of the bowling alley, where'd they'd wait for Rebecca and Charlie to walk them home.

"Was it something I said to her?" Johnny asked as he and his little sister exchanged confused expressions, and Cassidy shook her head at her brothers question, right before the two of them watched Rebecca and Charlie finish those five Socs off until they bolted out the door.

"Awesome work, Charlie! We got 'em good!" Rebecca cheered as she and Charlie gave each other a high-five as the two of them exchanged proud and satisfied grins.

Charlie nodded his head, then rubbed his knuckles from where he felt would become a mixture of black, blue, and purple because he nailed the Socs a little extremely too rough over and over again.

Rebecca battered her eyes confusedly as she cocked an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Charlie?"

"I might need an x-ray," Charlie replied, still rubbing his knuckles from where they crushed the Socs the most with Charlie's hurtful punches that were used completely for protection and self-defense.

"Hey..." Johnny's soft and innocent popped up, and Charlie and Rebecca turned their attention to the sixteen-year-old boy, watching him as he hesitated with every single small and slow step he took towards them, Cassidy following his example right behind him. Rebecca and Charlie could instantly tell that he was very shy and sensitive, just like Sondra was, same with Cassidy.

"Are you okay, boy? Did they hurt you?" Rebecca asked

Johnny simply stuffed his hands into his blue jeans jackets pockets and he shrugged his shoulders. "No, I'm alright. I was just pulled a little, but I'm okay. My sister is, too. I'm Johnny Cade...and this is my sister, Carla, but everyone calls her Cassidy,"

Charlie and Rebecca both looked at each other and smiled, right before they showed their kind and heart-warming grins, Rebecca's being beautiful and Charlie's being handsome, both as always, to Johnny and Cassidy, who both shyly grinned back.

"Well, Johnny, Carla, it's nice to meet you two. Say, I'm Rebecca and this is my best friend Charlie," Rebecca introduced herself with a single bow of her head while Charlie lifted his hand up to his shoulder and simply said, "Sup."

"It's nice to meet you guys, too, but uh...I was wondering who that girl was...ya know, the one with the golden hair and shimmering blue eyes," Johnny tensed up a bit when remembering how nice he thought that Sondra looked.

"Oh, that's our friend. We call her Baby," Rebecca shared

"And speaking of which," Charlie nodded his head. "We got to walk her and Iris home now,"

"Who's Iris?" Johnny asked

"Baby's younger sister. Baby's fourteen and Iris is seven," Charlie answered

Johnny paused for a moment, taking in what Rebecca and Charlie were calling Sondra. He touched his chin for about three seconds, and then he scratched the back of his head, thinking heavily about his question.

"That girl...the blonde one, I mean...her real name is Baby?" Johnny asked, confusedly

"Oh, no," Charlie replied with three shakes of his head. "But nobody ever calls her by her real name,"

The eldest Cade exchanged confused expressions with his little sister, and the two of them shrugged their shoulders as they looked back at Charlie and Rebecca, who were both still gazing right back at the two of them.

"Why doesn't anybody call her by her _actual _name? And what exactly _is _her real name?" Cassidy asked

"Well, we're sorry, but we can not tell you guys that," Charlie apologized "but, Johnny...you go to high school, right?"

"...Maybe...why?" Johnny asked

Charlie and Rebecca both smiled at each other, but then glanced back at the oldest and second oldest Cade's.

"Well...so is Baby...get to know her then properly. If you don't, heck, that's your choice," Rebecca giggled, and without another word, she and Charlie were out the front doors of the bowling alley, both laughing and smiling together, and they walked away with Sondra and Iris...but Sondra didn't walk away without taking one more small glance at Johnny through the glass, her eyes shimmering under the moon and starlight, before she walked away.

Cassidy cocked an eyebrow as she glanced up at Johnny, who now looked bright, bright red and his eyes were completely zoned out, a small, handsome smile tugging at his lips. Cassidy grinned a little herself as she tugged on her older brothers arm, which instantly made Johnny snap out of it, and he quickly gazed down at her.

"We better get going back to the Curtis's house and tell the gang what all has happened, and not to mention that this blonde girl is the charm that ran into Dally twice today," Cassidy snickered

Johnny's face grew redder. "Um...I'd rather not share about 'Baby' with the others, Carla,"

"You're only saying that 'cause you're sweet on her already," Cassidy nudged her brother as a couple of soft chuckles escaped from her lips, and Johnny's black eyes widened after taking in his little sisters words.

"I am not!" Johnny objected

"You are so!" Cassidy laughed as her older brother put her into a playful headlock as he started tussling up her hair, making the two of them laugh together.

"Not, not, not!" Johnny exclaimed, trying his best to sound stern as he released his little sister from his playful headlock, but he just couldn't pull it off. Not one bit. His laughter was getting the best of him.

"Yeah, you are! Let's just see what the others have to say 'bout this!" Cassidy quickly bolted out of the bowling alley, laughing her beautiful and joyful laughter as Johnny quickly bolted after her.

"Hey! Wait up! No fair!" Johnny objected through his laughter, but within his mind, he was absoluetly about Sondra...questioning why people called her 'Baby', and not to mention the fact what the other Greasers would say about this, especially Dally and Two-bit, who both absoluetly _hated _Regulars...aw, man...what _will _the gang say and/or do?

**AN: Sorry for taking so long to update, but I spent my whole day writing this chapter for you all! Now, _please review _because I need them to keep my writing spirit strong and golden! What will the Greasers say and/or do when Johnny and/or Cassidy spill the beans about Sondra being a Regular? How about when they tell their gang about how Regulars actually _saved _them from five Socs? Yawl will just have to wait until chapter three! Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	3. Protecting Regulars And Painful Beatings

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all, enjoy chapter 3, and _please review_! :D**

_Chapter 3_

All of the Greasers were now gathered around in the center of the Curtis's living room, the darkness now all over the place outside with the billions and billions of stars shimmering like diamonds, and the moon out shined them all, as if it was the biggest and best polished diamond. A fire was in the Curtis's fireplace, glowing all red, yellow, and orange as it crackled away, and all of the Greasers were warmly laying back on cozy blankets or comfy pillows either on the couch or the floor, except for Darry, who was kicking back in the recliner.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dally exclaimed, surprised, as he quickly sat up from resting on his side of the floor. "What?!"

Johnny and Cassidy had both shared every single detail that they could give about all that happened at the bowling alley between them and those five Socs that were driving around in their yellow Mustang. Johnny also shared about Charlie and Rebecca, the two of them being Regulars and what they looked like and what they did, while Cassidy shared about Sondra and Iris, who Cassidy told about how Sondra accidently whacked Johnny in the nose with a cane (which was Iris's, but Cassidy and Johnny didn't catch that she was blind.), and also about Sondra's nickname, considering that neither she or Johnny knew Sondra's actual name.

"We're tellin' you all the truth, Dally," Cassidy promised, holding her hands up to her shoulders in a defending way, and Johnny nodded his head with full agreement. "Some Regulars saved Johnny and I from getting beaten at the bowling alley. This boy named Charlie and this girl named Rebecca got 'em good, beatin' them down until the five of them bashed out of the bowling alley's front doors."

Dally shook his head. "No, no, I know you guys wouldn't ever lie, but I just can't understand why _Regulars _were actually helping you two out, all of us being Greasers and all,"

Johnny shrugged his shoulders in an innocent way. "What can Carla and I say? It's the truth. It happened,"

"Look, Johnny-cake..Carla," Two-bit, who was kicking back on the couch with a new bottle of beer that was already half drank in his hand, spoke up, and everybody instantly turned their full and undivided attention to the wisecracker of their gang. "No matter what happens, Regulars will _never _be like us. I dig that these Charlie and Rebecca Regulars saved you two from gettin' it big time, but that Baby girl smacked you really hard in the nose with a cane, Johnny-cake, 'member?"

To everyone's surprise, even Two-bit's and Dally's, Johnny actually narrowed his eyes in an upset manner, and you could see his face slightly turning red.

"So, what are you sayin', Two-bit?" Johnny asked, his voice still innocent and simple towards one of his best friends, but his face was speaking otherwise, and believe it or not, that was starting to scare the gang. "Just because Baby made one mistake that I shouldn't trust her like Charlie, Rebecca, and this little sister, Iris, of hers?"

"Well..." Two-bit gulped, his voice sort of trembling a bit towards Johnny, which certainly made everyone start to grow nervous a bit more. "Johnny, she beat your nose with only one heck of a powerful blow of a cane...Carla even told us that part of the story herself..."

"Well, yeah, I understand that Baby _did _hit me, but she was scared if I was somebody else tryin' to sneak up on her! Not only that, but Baby just so happens to be one of those Regulars from mainly my classes, just like Kitten, Ponyboy, and I suspected!" Johnny pointed out

"Ya mean," Dally gasped with a secret gulp, and just like that, all of the Greasers turned their eyes to him, being very quiet now to hear what Dallas had to say. "Baby was _that _broad Regular that I kept running into?!"

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and scrunched up his nose, gazing down at his lap as he took in Dally's question, thinking mainly about what Dallas just called Sondra once again.

"Yes," Johnny then answered the best fighter in the Greasers gang. "But she's _not _a broad! She's just a very shy and scared girl,"

"So, she's basically harmless, but protective?" Ponyboy asked

"Exactly," Johnny nodded his head, and Cassidy nodded along with his response, agreeing completely with it. "And, Pony, you even said so yourself in your theme that not _all _people are bad,"

Darry touched his chin and took time to digest Johnny's words, grinning one of his small, handsome, rare smiles as he nodded his head. "Johnny-cake has a great point, and Ponyboy's theme _was _one heck on an amazing story that states such facts 'bout certain things. Like Cherry, Marcia, and Randy here, they're Socs and not bad at all," Darry pointed out

Sodapop shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah...and if it wasn't for those Charlie and Rebecca Regulars, Johnny-cake and Cass would both be bowling pins right now,"

"And..." Steve sighed, coming into the conversation finally. "I have seen this 'Baby' around in some of my classes...and I got to admit, she does seem pretty tuff, even though she's extremely quiet and doesn't tell anybody her exact name,"

Kitten tossed the new magazine that she was reading down onto the coffee table and leaned foward a bit on the couch, her elbows now resting and pointing up on her lap so her hands were cuffed under her chin.

"She seems a lot like you, Johnny-cake. Shy and sensitive, not really chatting with anybody, and she's not afraid of fighting for protection," Kitten listed

Johnny didn't take any hesitation after hearing those words come out of Kitten's mouth to allow his eyes to grow big, as he bit down on his lip, and he tried to keep his face from turning pink from how hot he was now feeling, but he just couldn't pull it off. His tan face was now stained with the color of a bright, bright pink, especially on his cheeks. Soda smirked one of his world-famous, handsome, but yet devious grins. That coming from Sodapop Curtis though, it wasn't a big deal.

"Well, well, well," Soda snickered "if I didn't know any better, it seems like somebody has a crush,"

Cassidy then smirked along with Sodapop, nodding her head with absolute full agreement, and she chuckled out the words, "It's pretty obvious, ain't it?"

"Aw, hush!" Johnny ordered his first little sister, Jocelyn being fast asleep in Steve's arms, but Johnny's voice wasn't harsh or demanding. It was just very shy, and this was a whole lot more shy then the usual Johnny Cade. Johnny playfully thumped Cassidy over the head, and then nudged her shoulder. "Yawl mind your own buisness. I'm not saying that I actually _do _have a crush on 'Baby', considering that I absoluetly do not have a crush on her, but yawl stop your mocking and teasing with me having certain feelings for her,"

"Johnny-cake, Cassidy's actually right. It _is _pretty obvious," Ponyboy chuckled "I mean, you're sticking up more for Regulars,"

"Well, maybe that's because I actually consider that they're all not bad, just like 'em Socs that Darry pointed out. Cherry, Marcia, and Randy," Johnny reminded

Two-bit cocked an eyebrow at the oldest Cade as he took a sip of his clear, brownish liquid from his half drank beer bottle, wiping away the remaining drops from his lips with the back of his free, empty hand afterwards. It was then Two-bit's turn to smirk.

"Well, I'll be! Johnathan Alexander Cade has a crush on a Regular!" Two-bit laughed

Johnny's face grew pinker as the rest of the gang laughed along with Two-bit's outburst. Wow, Johnny embarrassedly thought to himself. This coming from the teenager who stated in the first place that all Greasers, Socs, and Regulars were different from each other.

"I do not have a crush on Baby!" Johnny objected, his eyes slimly growing a bit bigger as he gently touched his own face, feeling how hot the skin upon his cheeks were. The oldest Cade gulped, realizing that he now had everyone's full, undivided attention on him. Amused and satisfied smiles were plastered on each of their faces, and laughter was all stacked up in their eyes, even to goofy Two-bit's and tough Dally's.

Johnny took in and let out a deep, soft breath for everybody to see and hear in the silence of the Curtis's living room, as he wiped her forehead, which his jet-black bangs were covering, with the back of his bare hand.

"We better get going, Carla. It's late and we got school in the morning," Johnny instructed

"Aw!" Cassidy wiped her gleeful grin off of her face and created her usual puppy-dog look that could just make about Johnny melt every single time he looked into her shimmering eyes, just because she was so dang adorable with her lip quivering trick. "Do we _have _to go, Johnny?"

Johnny cocked an eyebrow at his little sisters behavior as he stood up from the floor, then carefully picked Jocelyn up from Steve's gentle hand-over. The eldest Cade gave the youngest one a couple of small and gentle family kisses on the top of her jet-black, silky, short, bouncy curls, as he cradled her warmly and lovingly close to his chest, keeping Jocelyn under a part of his jeans jacket as well while he carried her so she'd be extra warm and cozy on the walk back home.

"Yes, Carla," Johnny nodded his head, not allowing himself to fall for Cassidy's little adorable puppy-dog face act with her big eyes and quivering lip this time. "Like I said, schools in the morning and it's late. Mom and Dad won't even realize us sneak into our bedroom through our window once again anyway,"

Cassidy pouted an actual frown this time as she pushed herself up onto her feet and nodded her head two times, giving in, as she sighed the words, "Alright, fine. Let's get goin' then..."

"Are you sure you guys don't want to stay here for the night? Two-bit usually picks us all up in the morning, remember, Johnny-cake? And Cassidy's schools only four or so blocks from here. _Way _better then how it is with her having to walk all the way from your guys house, Johnny. Right?" Ponyboy shrugged his shoulders.

Johnny took a couple of moments to take in Ponyboy's true words, and then he bit down on his lip, trying to think everything out clearly and carefully. The oldest Cade gazed down at the baby Cade that was still fast asleep in his arms, and then he looked at Cassidy, who was now glancing back up at him with her eyes filled with plead and her bottom lip quivering in a pleading way again. Johnny truly and very desperately wanted to allow Cassidy to stay the night there at the Curtis's, but if their psychotic mom or dad, or possibly both of them, found out that at least one Cade or two was missing out of three, the final Cade would be getting an extra beat down until they were nothing but a terrible and painful mixture of the shades of black, blue, and purple.

"Pony, you do have a point," Johnny sighed "but I can't risk it. Our folks at least want to check up on us once every four-to-five weeks or so, and tonight just so happens to be the night that our mom or our dad, or possibly both of 'em, will be checking up to make sure Carla, Joce, and I are out like lights in bed, unless we want our pa to put us out like lights himself with his painful beat downs,"

Just as Darry opened his mouth to object and tell Johnny that it was absoluetly fine to stay the night, Cassidy shook her head and announced to the gang, "Johnny-cake is right. He's only looking out for me and Jocelyn. We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Later, everybody!" Johnny spoke, and without another word out of any of the Cade's, taking in the other Greasers good-byes while they were at it, the Cade's were out the front door, Cassidy catching it and quietly closing it all the way until she heard its latch quietly click, and then she trotted after Johnny and little Jocelyn in the cold darkness of the fall night.

"Well," Two-bit yawned as he finished the couple more sips of his beer from the glass bottle, then sat it down on the coffee table. Everybody turned their attention to the wisecracker of the gang, and he stood up on his feet from kicking back on the couch. Two-bit stretched his arms and let out another yawn, rubbing his eyes a bit afterwards. "I better be getting on home. I promised my Mama that I'd tuck Karen in for the night, and after that, I want to get to bed myself. Night, all! See you guys 'morrow!"

"Later, Two-bit!" Ponyboy called out with Soda at the same time, and after that, the wisecracker of the gang was out the front door, and unlike the Cade's, to nobody's surprise at all, Two-bit allowed the door to slam shut behind him, which is when the other Greasers that was there in the Curtis's living room clench their eyes shut and try their best to prepare their eardrums.

Dally opened his eyes and annoyingly rolled them, pushing himself up from the floor afterwards, which gained him the Curtis's, Kitten's, and Steve's attention, even though Dallas was silent and didn't say a single word.

"Well, I got no where to go, and my parole officer said I don't need to actually be at my own house until 10:30, so...yeah," Dally shrugged his shoulders, his tone filled with his usual coolness.

Sodapop cocked an eyebrow confusingly after he, Ponyboy, Darry, Kitten, and Steve all took in what Dallas just shared about his parole officers orders. "Dally, it's 11:15 now,"

"OH, CRUD!" Dallas blurted out as he quickly shot his attention over to the Curtis's clock, realizing that the two hands were pointing directly at the time that Soda just pointed out. Without any hesitation, Dally zipped up his leather jacket and flipped his hood on over the top of his dark brown, greasy hair. "I WAS _NEVER _HERE! SEE YOU GUYS TOMORROW! DALLAS, OUT!"

"See you later, Dally!" Darry waved good-bye from where he was kicking back in the recliner.

"Don't get hauled in again tonight, man!" Steve demanded, his rare laughter taking over all of his speaking as he ordered those words.

"No promises!" Dally warned, and right after that, he marched right out of the Curtis's house, trotting quickly and not caring for the door to slam loudly once again after his departure.

Soda and Ponyboy both laughed together at Dally's warning about him not promising that he wouldn't get hauled in, while Steve and Kitten only grinned at each other, and Darry playfully rolled his eyes.

"Hey, guys," Steve then spoke up, gaining the Curtis's and Kitten's full, undivided attention on him. "Is it alright if I stay here for the night? My old man and I got into another arguement and he kicked me out...again,"

"Yeah, sure, Steve. It _is _okay, right, Darry?" Sodapop asked, his voice filled with fake plead as he looked over his shoulder and battered his eyes at Darry, who just playfully rolled his eyes again, and he shrugged his shoulders at Soda's question, some soft laughter escaping from his lips as Ponyboy giggled a bit, too.

"Sure, it's alright with me. What 'bout you, Kit-Cat? You want to stay the night?" Darry questioned

Kitten shook her head, standing up from the couch afterwards, her arms now crossed over her chest. "No. I'm going to just climb into my bedroom through my window by climbing the outside of my house again and not allow my folks to see me, considering that they don't give a hang whether I'm 'round or not. They don't even notice me,"

"Are you _sure _you don't want to stay the night then, Kitty? I mean, your parents only notice you when they want to talk about something that you really dislike," Ponyboy sighed. The Greasers knew Kitten's folks, and none of them adored them one bit, not even Soda and Johnny-cake. Kitten's parents were Socs, only paying attention to Kitten's four little brothers and not caring about her one bit.

"Nah, Pony. Don't you be woofin' any worries 'bout me. I'll be fine as always," Kitten promised as she swung on her leather jacket, then made her way over to the Curtis's main door. "Bye, guys,"

"Night, Kitty-Cat," Soda waved good-bye.

"See you tomorrow at school," Steve said, and Ponyboy nodded his head with full agreement there.

"Have a safe travel back to your house in the cold darkness out there," Darry instructed. Kitten grinned her beautiful and bright smile as she bowed her head at her four friends, telling them good-night one final time afterwards, and right after that, the ginger-haired, green-eyed girl walked out the front door, and like all of the Greasers that weren't the Cade's, Kitten allowed the door to slam shut all the way.

"Well, time to turn in," Darry yawned as he stood up from the recliner and rubbed his neck from where he pulled a muscle after working yet another hard job at his roofing job from only a couple hours ago. For a change, there was no childish arguements or kid-like pleads and begs to continue staying awake for at least five more minutes. All Soda did was stretch a bit, while Ponyboy rubbed his aching eyes, and Steve made himself comfortable on the couch, already resting his head back with his eyes shut, so close to being out like a light already.

Darry tiredly grinned as he gave his kid brothers a brotherly bonding, loving hug, and then he playfully tussled up Ponyboy's hair, right before he thumped Soda over the head, still in a playful way. Both of the younger Cade's chuckled a bit, then told Darry that they loved him before they tiredly walked up the stairs to go to bed. Darry smiled again, being very quiet as he tiptoed around the living room, turning off all the lights to make the room completely dark so Steve could sleep in peace. After that, Darry went upstairs to tuck his kid brothers in, but when he peaked into their bedroom to see what they were up to, Pony and Sodapop were already dressed in their pajamas and under the covers of their bed, out like lights themselves already with loving grins plastered on their sleeping faces, and their eyes were shut dreamily.

"I love you two and I always will no matter what," Darry whispered in the moonlight from the crack that was open at Ponyboy's and Soda's bedroom door. Just as Darry walked away a couple of steps to enter his bedroom that was across the hallway from his kid brothers bedroom so he could change and go to sleep himself...the eldest Curtis could've sworn that he heard both Pony's and Soda's voices say at the same time, "Darry, we love you more."

Darry's tired eyes sparked up with happiness as his rare, handsome grin spread across his face, and then he entered his bedroom, closing the door quietly all the way behind him, deciding to call it a night.

Meanwhile back at the Prescott household though, the love and care that was exsisting at the Curtis's house between the whole gang and whatnot, was as always, not exsisting for Sondra, Iris, and their abusive folks, Dominic and Spring.

Sondra was laying in a pair of her pajamas, which was a dark brown tank-top that had a pink heart on the front of it, and it was designed to reveal everything that's below her rib-cage, and a pair of matching pajama pants of the same shade of dark brown with the bright pink hearts designed all over its warm and cozy fabric. The fourteen-year-old girl was resting flat on her back on her bed, her right arm resting across her stomach with her left hand staying underneath her head. A tearful pout was on her face, and she could hear Spring and Dominic bickering back and forth furiously and loudly from the vent, meaning that they were downstairs. Neither Sondra or Iris understood what was going on with their parents lately. One moment they're making out like usual, but then the next, they're violently yelling and cursing at each other, which is completely different because Spring and Dominic _never _hollered or ordered each other around.

Sondra's bedroom was surprisingly beautiful, even though she was abused with Iris. The walls were painted an ordinary dark red, not that anybody could hardly tell because every inch of her walls were pretty much covered with different posters and pictures of and Iris. Sondra's bed, on the other hand, was covered with a warm, cozy, silky blanket, and matching pillows of the color red with darker red hearts decorating the silky fabric. Her nightstand was beautifully carved from dark wood, smooth and gentle to the touch of a finger sliding across the top, which is where Sondra's floral lamp rested with her alarm clock right in front of it. The floor was beautiful, shiny, golden-like wood, and Sondra's closet was a small walk-in closet, which contained many old, worn out, dirty shirts, like T-shirts and tank-tops at the most, along with some leather jackets and her favorite light blue-jeans jacket. Sondra's dresser, which was made of the same dark wood as her nightstand, contained mainly her worn out, tattered, mud and dirt stained pants, with were mainly jeans, and her old shorts were packed away in the way back, underneath everything in her drawers because since she had bruises and some scratches and scars, there was no way she could wear short pants so everybody to realize her injuries and question her about them, especially Charlie and Rebecca. It was already bad enough that they started questioning a lot when just finding out about a single bruise or a cut.

"IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET A JOB! I'M TIRED OF COMING HOME TO SEE YOUR BUTT STILL DOING NOTHING BUT GETTING DRUNK AND NOT HELPING OUT 'ROUND THIS HOUSEHOLD!" Spring hollered at Dominic, both of them still filled with blustering rage in the living room, and Sondra and Iris could still hear them because they were so loud, and also because of the vents.

"AW, GET OFF MY BACK, WOMAN! IF I WANT TO GET A JOB, THEN I'LL GET A JOB! BUT GUESS WHAT! I DON'T WANT A FREAKIN' JOB! SO WHY DON'T _YOU _GET A JOB?! IT'S OBVIOUS THAT ALL YOU DO IS SIT 'ROUND AND DO NOTHING ALL DAY BUT GETTING DRUGGED AND WHATNOT!" Dominic barked back at his wife, who's face reddened darker red as she showed her clenching teeth, releasing snarl-like sounds from her clenched, slightly bright yellow teeth, as she clenched her hands into such tight fists at her sides that they were starting to turn red and tremble a bit from being crushed so hard.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE AND YOU KNOW IT! I WORK HARD TO KEEP FOOD ON OUR PLATES SO YOU AND I WOULDN'T EVER STARVE!" Spring back sassed, not even daring to think about Sondra and Iris, considering that neither she or Dominic _ever _wanted children. They absoluetly _hated _kids!

Sondra pouted and sighed as she listened to her stomach growl and grumble after she heard Spring's bicker about her cooking. The last thing she ate was...um...actually, Sondra didn't even remember the last time she ate, and neither did Iris, but Sondra cared more about getting her and her little blind sister fed more then Iris herself. Considering her brain damage and all, Iris even said things that didn't even make sense sometimes, and since she's obviously blind, sometimes when somebody says something to her, Iris questions what the thing is and what it is like, because she can't understand it clearly all the way like everyone else could.

The fourteen-year-old girl pushed herself up on her bed and stepped off until she was standing straight on her feet, still being able to hear every word that Spring and Dominic were hollering, spitting, and cursing back and forth at each other.

"WHY DON'T YOU STOP BEING SUCH A - COWARD AND START SHOWING ME SOME - RESPECT ALREADY, YOU REDICULOUS PIECE OF -!" Spring cursed

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, BROAD?!" Dominic blustered

"YOU HEARD ME, YOU LAZY, GOOD FOR NOTHING, LYING PIECE OF - -!"

The last thing that Sondra heard before hers and Iris's folks started yelling at each other again was Dominic's angry footsteps stomping across the downstairs floor, followed by a loud whistling noise of Dominic's hand flying through the air. Sondra flinched a bit when she heard her mother release a howl of both pain and anger, meaning that Dominic had struck her hard across the face with just a single slap.

Sondra rubbed her neck with one of her hands while she used her other hand to rub around her tender and sore ribs, which were covered and marked with some scars and bruises. The loud and violent **_SMACK _**still echoed throughout Sondra's mind, making her yelp a little bit to herself from remembering how Dominic always whacked her and kicked her like she was nothing but a crumbled up piece of trash going nowhere on the street. _**WHACK! SMACK! SLAP! **_

The eldest Prescott shuttered a bit to herself as she turned her attention around at her reflection in her mirror, realizing finally how bruised, scarred, and injured with all kinds of different marks on her shins, arms, ribs, and stomach from being beaten so much. She also had a slight bright purple mark shining off bellow her right eye a bit, which was formed just recently from her and Dominic's earlier encounter, which is when Charlie and Rebecca left after dropping her and Iris off, and after Sondra walked Iris to her bedroom and she closed the door, she was instantly greeted with a painful strike of a single blow of Dominic's fist, connecting with her cheek and sending her down to the wooden floor instantly.

Sondra tucked her golden blonde, shagged up hair behind her ears, and innocently gazed into her reflections eyes, which were filled with sorrow and plead, like a homeless puppy-dogs eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about that teenaged boy with the dark tan skin, innocent; shimmering black eyes, and his greasy jet-black hair.

"Johnathan Cade!" Sondra snapped her fingers together when finally remembering the sixteen-year-old boys actual name from her classes with him. "_That's _who he is! _That's _his name!"

He's a surely quiet boy, Sondra thought to herself. He was mighty sweet though, and not to mention very forgiving and understanding. Sondra never spoke to Johnny Cade, but she didn't need to, to understand who he truly was and what he was like. Sondra didn't exactly count the bowling alley being the first place where she and Johnny talked because she didn't really talk much. She just stuttered, so quietly and shyly, hardly being able to be heard one bit, and Johnny was actually being brave, but yet shy at the same time when trying to chat and thank Sondra for being there to save him and Cassidy from earning one heck of a brusin' with those five Socs. Heck, even though Sondra whacked Johnny in the nose with Iris's pink and white guider, Sondra was still feeling embarrassed that she did that, but she she truly knew on the inside that Johnny actually _did _forgive her for doing such a thing.

Believe it or not, it seemed like that Sondra had this gift of being able to understand everybody by just taking in what they look like and how their voices sound. She could simply just be able to sense it all, but she wasn't correct all the time with this 'gift' of hers. For example, Sondra believed that Greasers were very terrifying and bossy thugs that would do anything to get a great rumble started, or for them to earn cigarettes and/or bottles of beer. To be honest, Sondra still thought about Dallas Winston like that, frightening and sassy, and doing as much as any Greaser _can _do to get a rumble started with some Soc or Socs, while he drank beer a bit and smoked pretty much 24/7. Nevertheless, Sondra was also proven wrong after she laid her gentle and relaxing eyes on Johnny Cade. He wasn't that tough and violent type of Greaser like Sondra thought that all Greasers were. It was the same thing with Ponyboy Curtis and Kitten Andrews. Steve Randle and Keith, or Two-bit Matthews, went back and forth, but no Greaser was as tough and violent as Dallas Winston.

Sondra sighed at her reflection, absoluetly regretting the way she looked with her shagged up hair and bruised skin...but then, Iris wandered into Sondra's mind...yeah...Sondra remembered the day that her mother went into labor, and she was cursing Dominic to get her to the hospital before she would have to have a home birth, which neither Spring and/or Dominic wanted, considering that they didn't even want to have children.

Ever sense the day that Spring regretfully announced that she was pregnant again, believe it or not, Sondra was thrilled to have a little baby _brother_. Yeah, Sondra always wanted to have a little brother to play catch with, and not to mention climb trees with and look at the beautiful starry nights during the breezy nights, and gaze wonderfully at the warm, colorful, early morning sunrises. The eldest Prescott could already see him winning on his place in the swim team and earning a golden trophy, and not to mention him shooting arrows perfectly at the direct center of his assigned target in his archery class.

_However, when waiting in the waiting room of the labor hall with Dominic just kicking back and reading an old sports magazine while listening to Spring scream painfully and loudly, Sondra was rubbing her hands together with a nervous expression on her face. She was obviously worried, not understanding what could have possibly been going on with the birth of her baby brother. But when the doctor came out and told Sondra that she and her father could go in now, Sondra instantly smiled a big, bright grin, her fears and worries now completely gone as she rushed down the hall with Dominic slugging behind her in an uncaring way. Sondra couldn't wait to see her new baby brother...but when she entered her mothers hospital room and saw a nurse holding the little newborn in a little PINK blanket, Sondra knew that those dreams were gone, but new ones instantly took their places._

Sondra smiled a small grin then at her reflection in her mirror, feeling great now when thinking about Iris. Speaking of Iris, Sondra quietly tiptoed out of her bedroom, being very quiet so Spring and/or Dominic wouldn't hear her footsteps or her door opening and closing behind her, but as if that was ever going to happen, considering that the married couple were still fighting very loudly and furiously.

The oldest Prescott then twisted the doorknob of the door that entered Iris's room, and she opened the door up, seeing the beautiful colors all around greeting her instantly from green to blue, orange to pink, red to yellow. Iris's walls were painted light pink, having butterflies, flowers, stars, hearts, and rainbows all plastered all over the wall, and golden letters were over Iris's rainbow floral bed-covered bed, the golden painted words spelling out her name.

A picture of Charlie, Rebecca, Iris, and Sondra was also resting on Iris's lacy-clothed nightstand, the four of them smiling and laughing at the camera. Man, Charlie had such a handsome smile and great looks, and Rebecca's grin was so beautiful that it could make any boy melt. It was as if Rebecca was a model, and Charlie was a handsome movie star.

Many stuffed animals covered Iris's floral bed covers and matching pillows, each animal looking different with their big or small eyes each glimmering, and all of them having little childish names after Iris named them, and she was only seven here. Iris's bedroom window had sparkly lavender drapes hanging in front of the whiteness of the windowsill, and there a little bit in the center of the seven-year-old girls bedroom, was Iris, sitting at her little table with three other stuffed animals sitting in the three other chairs.

Sondra's smile faded into a small grin when she watched Iris's whitish-grayish eyes shine and glimmer, she still not needing to blink at all, and Iris was carefully sliding and searching around the small table with one of her small, bare hands for her heart-detailed tea-cup, which instantly gave it away to Sondra that Iris was playing another small game of her tea parties.

"...Who's there?" Iris asked, her voice still in its soft and childish tone as he looked in Sondra's direction after hearing the door open.

"Oh, sorry, Iris," Sondra aplogized "it's just me,"

"...Hello...Sondra..." Iris looked back down, thinking that she was now staring at her little tea party table when she was really gazing at her bare lap. Iris started sliding her hand around the top surface of her table again.

"It's _Baby_, Iris. Remember that it's _Baby_, okay?" Sondra asked as she walked into her little sisters bedroom and quietly closed the door until it was all the way shut. All Iris did in response was nod her head, truly hating on the inside how Sondra always got called by some nickname like 'Baby' because she was afraid of how others would refer to her name as.

Silence fell over the room between the two sisters as the oldest one just stood there, leaning her back against the wall as she continued staring at the youngest Prescott, who had just found her main tea-cup for her to serve the drink to her three 'guests'.

"Hey," Sondra broke the quietness that was swimming around the air. "You actually got dressed correctly by yourself, Iris,"

"...Yes..." Iris agreed, standing up from the little baby-blue chair that she was sitting in, and then she turned in the direction to where she heard her older sisters voice so Sondra could see how she dressed herself in her favorite night-gown all by herself. The seven-year-old blind girl even tied her long, silky, brunette hair back in a ponytail all by herself.

Sondra grinned a slight bit, taking in how Iris was learning very well how to change, guide, and read all by herself, but she was still struggling with writing. Iris was dressed in a silky, golden-yellow night-gown that had small, puffy sleeves that only covered her shoulders, and it went down to the center of her knees. It was also covered with a lacy, polka-dot, see-through covering cloth, it being sparkling white. Other then that, Iris didn't have anything else on, except her teddy-bear underwear that wasn't even noticeable unless she took off her night-gown.

"Can I join in on your tea party, Iris?" Sondra questioned. Any time Sondra got to spend time all by herself with Iris she'd take without any hesitation. Sometimes Sondra felt like that she was a teenaged mother, technically raising Iris, along with Rebecca's and Charlie's help, but they don't know a single thought about the Prescott girls getting abused.

"...Sure, Baby...take a...seat..." Iris's brain damage made her stutter again, and no matter how much that weighed on Sondra's heart, she wouldn't allow herself to break down right there with Iris in the room. Sondra took down a big lump in her sore throat as she held back the tears that were only forming a bit in her eyes, and she released a sigh, before she walked over to Iris's little table. Considering that there weren't anymore chairs, and even if there were, Sondra couldn't sit in them because they're too small and only fit for children, the oldest Prescott just sat down to the left of the youngest Prescott.

"Hey, Baby...I've been calling out...for Ashes...but he won't come..." Iris sighed as she started attempting to find the main tea-cup again. A confused expression wiped across Sondra's face as she gently picked up the empty tea-cup from its curved handle, and then she handed it over to Iris, who stuttered out her thank-you after retrieving her tea-cup from her sister.

"Who's Ashes?" Sondra asked, confusedly.

"...Our cat..." Iris stammered out, as she pretended to serve a cup of tea to her stuffed bunny, but she was missing the cup. So if there actually _was _anything to drink in that cup, it'd be getting poured all over the wooden floor. Thank the lord that there truly wasn't any tea or anything like that in that cup.

"Iris, we don't have a cat. We never did," Sondra shrugged her shoulders, right before she realized where Iris was pretending to serve the tea.

"Oh..that's a shame..." Iris sighed, but it was almost like to her that it wasn't a big deal at the same time.

Sondra pouted as she gently grabbed a hold of Iris's wrist and guided her hand over to where it was now over one of the five tea-cups. "Right here, Iris," Sondra instructed, before she helped her blind little sister 'pour' some more tea into another tea-cup that was resting in front of Iris's stuffed lion.

Not only did Iris's brain damage cause her to stutter and rethink her words before saying them, but it also caused her to think things that weren't even true or possible, like having a cat named Ashes. That couldn't ever happen. Sondra was allergic to cats.

"You took your meds, right, Iris? Charlie and Rebecca gave you them earlier, right?" Sondra questioned

"...Yes, Baby..." Iris nodded her head as she rested the main tea-cup back down on the table. Then, she carefully hooked her two middle ad pointer fingers from her right hand around the golden, curved handle, and the adorable blind girl picked up her smaller tea-cup that was decorated with pink and red roses, it also being white glass, and pretended to be filled up with tea.

Iris needed to take these special kind of pills to help her out with her brain damage, so she wouldn't forget about anybody or anything in her life, including herself. If she even skipped or forgot about taking just one, it could impact her so hard that she could possibly forget about _everything_, even her own name and age, and not to mention Sondra, Rebecca, and Charlie.

Sondra settled her right hand on her left shoulder, and then she placed her right hand on her left side, and uncomfortable look that was filled with absolute sorrow plastered on her face. Her eyes shimmered like a homeless puppy-dogs, and her bruises and scars began feeling sore and numb, some also feeling like they were throbbing and tugging on other parts of Sondra's skin. It was getting to her. The abuse, that is. Thinking about lying to everyone who questioned hers and Iris's injuries, especially Charlie and Rebecca, and techincally raising Iris, who's blind and needs to take meds so she could keep her memories...all of that...it was weighing hard on Sondra's mind and heart. Iris deserved better, Sondra told herself in her mind. She didn't care about herself. Iris came first, and she doesn't deserve to be blind and get abused while she's a completely innocent seven-year-old girl who suffers brain damage.

"You okay, Baby? You...you seem...very q-quiet...all the sudden..." Iris pointed out.

"Oh, no, Iris," Sondra shook her head, not wanting to worry her little sister. "I'm fine. Just thinking,"

"About what? Mama and Daddy...arguing? Why are t-they...f-fighting a-a l-lot?" Iris stuttered with her question, but she didn't mean to. It was that stupid, brain damage that Spring gave her from snorting that powdered drug when she was pregnant with Iris.

Sondra pouted again as she released a soft sigh, but it was still loud enough for Iris to hear. She wished deeply on the inside that Iris hadn't asked that question, but Iris was a very curious little one, always wanting to know what everything and everybody is and why certain things happen in life.

The two girls could still hear Dominic and Spring going at it downstairs, cursing and spitting at each other, and some slaps were even heard, their smacking off sound echoing, followed by some painful, but also raged howls.

"I don't know, sis. They're just...going through stuff," Sondra sighed. She didn't know really how to explain it. How could you explain something like that to a little seven-year-old girl with blindness and brain damage?

"...Like what?" Iris asked

"...I don't know," Sondra admitted with a single shrug of her shoulders added in. "Just things that we don't know about,"

Iris was then quiet, still questioning why Dominic and Spring were arguing a whole lot lately on the inside, but by just hearing the soft and sorrow sighs of Sondra's voice, Iris decided not to ask anymore questions. Instead, the youngest Prescott was getting ready to place her tea-cup down back on top of her table...however when she released the cup from her hand, thinking it was over the table...it fell and hit the floor, smashing into nothing but small pieces of sharp and pointy glass.

Sondra's eyes shot huge and she released a loud gasp, while Iris's mouth dropped open from finding the loud, echoing smash so unexpected.

"WHAT WAS THAT FREAKIN' NOISE?!" Spring hollered out, flustering with rage from the living room. She and her husband had both stopped hollering and spitting at each other after they heard the crash of Iris's tea-up fall and break on the floor.

"SONDRA! IRIS!" came Dominic's blustering tone, followed by his loud and echoing footsteps stomping up the stairs.

Sondra allowed her eyes to grow even more big as she cuffed her hands over her mouth and she shook her head rapidly, knowing what was coming now.

"Iris!" Sondra quickly stood up from the floor and picked up her little sister, hauling her out of her chair from under her arms, after she gasped out her name. "Get under your bed and stay there!"

"But what...about you?" Iris whimpered, tears starting to form in her whitish-grayish eyes. She desperatly wished that Charlie and Rebecca were there, or at least she and her older sister were back at one of their houses. Sondra actually wished the same thing with her whole heart that was desperatly getting wounded.

"Just listen to me and stay under there until I say it's okay to come out!"

Sondra gently forced Iris under her bed until she was no longer in sight of view, and then the eldest Prescott rushed back to the center of the bedroom, cuffing her hands behind her back as her big, sorrow, tearful eyes stared at the closed door. Dominic's footsteps got louder and louder, each one echoing louder then the last.

Sondra began to tremble as she watched, and finally the door flew open and slammed hard into the wall, causing Sondra to flinch and release a yelp from her lips.

There standing furiously in the doorway was none other than Dominic, his face beating redder then ever, and his eyes were so hard and cold, heatless and cruel. His red-dyed hair was still all mangled and shaggy, and his bright yellow teeth were clenched tightly when he gazed at his and Spring's first born child just standing there and shaking in the middle of the bedroom.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?!" Dominic flustered out as he entered the bedroom and banged the door shut all the way behind him. Nevertheless, the drunk man didn't give Sondra the chance to explain anything, because his harsh, demon eyes rested on the broken glass, right before they shot back with even more rage (if that was even possible!) at Sondra, who let out another little, terrfied gasp.

"Daddy, please don't whip me again!" Sondra pleaded "you already did four times tonight!"

But to Dominic, it was as if his daughters didn't even have voices because he usually looks at them and sees imaginary pieces of tape over their mouths. Other then that, Dominic always treated his and Spring's two children like they were on mute 24/7.

"SHUT UP! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" Dominic yelled, referring to the broken glass on the floor from the broken tea-cup.

Sondra nervously gazed down at the broken glass, thinking about how it was truly Iris who dropped and broke the tea-cup, but Sondra knew that it wasn't her fault. Iris was blind here, so how was she supposed to know that she was going to drop the glass to the floor? Exactly, she didn't.

"Daddy, I promise that-" Sondra began

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Dominic ordered as he stomped up to Sondra, who just stood there trembling. Dominic grabbed her by her throat and pinned her to the wall, leaving her with terrified, watery eyes that were now widened big all over again.

_**SMACK! SLAP! **_

Sondra cried and cried, her eyes now completely red-rimmed and filled with so many tears that it was like a rapid waterfall.

"DAD, PLEASE-" Sondra attempted pleading, but she was instantly forced to the ground, and Dominic slipped off his leather belt.

**_WHIP! SNAP! _**

"YOU BETTER GET THAT GLASS PICKED UP, YA HEAR ME, GIRL?!" Dominic blustered

"Y-YES!" Sondra cried and cried, trying her best to get away from her absuive father, but he was no sitting on top of her wait, slapping and punching her, pulling her hair also and laughing at her with his drunk laughter as she flustered out many painful howls and sorrow filled tears.

Dominic finally stopped beating his first born child, and then he cuffed one of his hands on Sondra's chin so she would look at him, and his other hand clenched Sondra's sleeve as he yanked her up from the floor.

"GOOD! YOU _BETTER_ DO IT!" Dominic threatened as he gave Sondra one more powerful and hurtful kick in the gut, instantly causing the eldest Prescott to fall back down to the floor with steaming hot tears falling down her face, her hands cuffed over her head, and a small amount of blood was now dripping out of her nose. "NOW!"

After that, Dominic gave Sondra one more smack of his belt, and then he left the room, slamming the door all the way behind him after his departure.

Sondra attempted pushing herself up on her knees, but her arms were so shaky and trembling from being so afraid that she just laid there on the floor, wiping away the small amount of blood that was dripping out from her nose, as she sat up and curled up her legs, crying and crying, each tear being shed faster then the last.

"Baby?" Iris quietly piped up. Sondra turned her attention over to her kid sister and watched her as she crawled out from under her bed, then followed the sound of her older sisters sniffles and whimpers, which is when she sat there on Sondra's lap, sheding her own tears like it was her job as Sondra held her close.

Even though Iris was blind, it didn't mean that she didn't witness what just happened between Dominic and Sondra by using her _hearing_.

"Don't worry, Iris...I'm okay..." Sondra sniffled. She tried her best to stop her crying, but she just couldn't help it.

"D-Did he c-cause any injuries?" Iris nervously stammered, beginning to tremble in her sisters arms and lap.

Sondra hated lying to Iris, but she hated worrying her even more. So, Sondra didn't tell her about her new bruises that would sooner or later form, and about her bloody nose.

Sondra shook her head, feeling her heart breaking even more when hearing Iris's sniffles and whimpers.

"Shush, Iris...sh..." Sondra stroked her younger sisters hair, and then she leaned over to her ear, whispering, "Don't cry for me, I'll be okay..."

But...Sondra didn't know what'll happen the next day...nobody but the lord knows...Sondra and Iris seriously didn't believe that things in their life could _ever _turn around...but man...were they ever so wrong about that...but at the same time...they were also correct...

**AN: Dun, dun, duuunnn! Cliffhanger! _Please review _if you want more! The more reviews I get, I'll be trying to update my stories much faster *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* ;)**

**Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	4. Drama Filled School Day

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all, enjoy chapter 4, and _please review_! Also, I thank my great, golden, tuff friends who are reviewing! I thank all of you so much, and I adore each and every one of you! Now, enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 4_

"Two-bit, wake up!" a soft voice whispered, nudging the sleeping Greasers shoulder.

"Wake up, you idiot!" another voice demanded, it being a little louder and leaning towards Two-bit's direction, but the wisecracker still remained fast asleep, mumbling, groaning, and muttering in his sleep tiredly. Two-bit instantly knew who's voices those were though. Ponyboy's and Steve's. But Two-bit didn't _want _to get up, because he knew if he did, he was only going to end up at school. Two-bit usually liked school, but not when it starts at 7:00 in the morning and ends at 2:30.

"Two-bit, come on! Man, you got to get up! Fast!" a voice that was even more soft pleaded, and it was obvious right away to Two-bit that even though he was sleeping, that voice that was being even more quiet when whispering to him was Johnny.

"Keith! Keith!" this female voice started exclaiming, loudly and angrily. _Too late_, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Steve thought. "KEITH MATTHEWS!".

Without any hesitation then, Two-bit's eyes shot open and he leaped up from sitting down in his chair, now standing up on his feet in front of the whole _class_. Yep, Two-bit had fell fast asleep in class, and it was only second period, so the Greasers each still had a _long _day to go with school.

"George Washingon was the first president of the United States with John Adams as his vice!" Two-bit blurted out without a single moment of any pauses when he shot up from his seat. The female teacher, Mrs. Williams, rolled her annoyed eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, while the rest of the students, especially the Socs, smirked and snickered at what Two-bit just announced. Ponyboy, Steve, and Johnny, on the other hand, did different things. Pony, who sat next to Two-bit at his table (two students sit at each table), smacked his hand straight onto his face. Johnny, who sat across from Ponyboy's and Two-bit's table with Steve, closed his eyes and let out a sigh, and lastly, Steve cuffed his hands over his face to hide his embarrassment. (Kitten's not in their second period class!)

Two-bit's heart was racing in his chest, and his confused expression was now plastered on his bright, bright red face. Mrs. Williams let out a moan of her annoyed thoughts and feelings as she picked up a ruler from her desk.

"I'm surprised that you actually got that right, Keith," Mrs. Williams announced to the classroom, which was now dead silent from the chuckles and soft laughs stopping right after all of the students heard their teachers voice speak up. Two-bit hesitantly took his seat again, not knowing what to say back to the teacher after hearing those words of hers. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Steve stared at him, Pony and Johnny sort of filled with pity, but Steve was filled with annoyed feelings.

Mrs. Williams then smacked her ruler onto the board. A loud echoing **_SNAP_ **struck off and echoed throughout the whole classroom, making the students each flinch a little, while some Regulars yelped and some Socs hid their faces and sunk down in their chairs the best they could.

"But, Keith," Mrs. Williams snarled "this is _math _class! Oh _why _did I have to get stuck with you for another year?!"

Two-bit then flashed one of his big, goofy smiles, trying his best to lighten the mood at least just a tiny bit.

"Because I was just so amazing that the principal just _pleaded _and _begged _me to stay back for another second year of high school!" Two-bit snickered as he kicked back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head as he settled his black boots up on top of his side of his and Ponyboy's table.

"Don't you dare sass _me_, Keith Erwin Matthews!" Mrs. Williams ordered.

"You're not my mom!" Two-bit laughed.

"Get your feet off of the table!" Mrs Williams commanded as she swung her ruler up in the air, then whistled it back down for it to meet Two-bit's jeans. Instantly, Two-bit yanked his legs off from resting on top of the table and placed his feet back on the floor, connecting his hands and folding his fingers around each other and resting them out in front of him afterwards. The students all went back to smirking and laughing, except Ponyboy, Steve, and Johnny, who were still gazing at Two-bit, thinking to themselves that this wasn't going to end well.

"Well, well, well! It looks like someone just woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" Two-bit chuckled, which instantly caused Mrs. Williams's face to turn red from so much anger towards the wisecracker of the Greasers gang. She didn't know how to punish Two-bit, because if she even gave him a detention, he would either not show up, or if he ever did show up, he'd find ways to entertain himself in the classroom somehow.

Steve rolled his eyes at what Two-bit just said to their teacher. "Says the teenager who was sleeping on his table in class," Steve then whispered to Johnny.

"Well then, Keith, since you're so smart with your sassy words, then I bet you can tell the class what the square root of 150 is," Mrs. Williams instructed with a smirk now on her face.

Two-bit's goofy smile instantly faded away from his face as he took in Mrs. Williams's words, then looked around the room at all of the students having their eyes and amused smiles plastered on each of their faces, except Johnny's, Ponyboy's, and even Steve's.

"Um..." Two-bit gulped, tugging on his T-shirts collar a bit as he thought about the math question the best he could. Man, if there was one main subject that Two-bit hated, it was math class, next to science, which was actually his, Johnny's, Steve's, and Ponyboy's first period class. (They start having Kitten in their classes at third period!)

"12.25, Two-bit! It's 12.25!" Ponyboy whispered the best he could without leaning towards Two-bit or allowing anybody else to hear him, unless it was Two-bit, Steve, and/or Johnny.

"Uh..." Two-bit tried his best to understand how Pony's was correct. "12.25 ain't a whole number!" Two-bit then murmured.

Steve smacked his hand straight onto her face after hearing Two-bit quietly whisper those words. "It doesn't need to be a whole number, genius! Just follow what the kid just said!" Steve ordered in a whisper.

"Alright!" Two-bit finally gave in, right before he stared back at Mrs. Williams, who was still grinning with her arms crossed over her chest, and the ruler still being held in her hand. "It's 12.25."

"Correct. Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Mrs. Williams nodded her head, her smirk still remaining straight on her face as she crinkled her pointed nose a bit.

Before Two-bit could open his mouth and say something else that was most likely sassy, not only did Ponyboy place his hand over Two-bit's mouth, and Steve thumped him over the back of the head, while Johnny quietly shushed him, the door of the classroom flew open. Everybody turned their full, undivided attention over to the door that was now opened, and here came trotting into the room was Sondra. She had a nervous expression on her face, her pale blue eyes filled with plead and one of her eyes even had a bright purple mark surrounding and shining off around it. Sondra's blonde hair remained all shaggy and uncombed, and she was dressed in a purple checkered, long sleeved shirt, a pair of dark blue overalls that were slightly dirty with some mud and dirt stains, and a worn out pair of tennis shoes.

Johnny could've sworn that he felt his heart lighting up, but his eyes grew big a bit when he realized the black eye that Sondra now had, because Johnny knew that she certainly didn't have that injury when he spotted her at the bowling alley the night before with Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris. Ponyboy, Steve, and even Two-bit were just as surprised, having a hard time believing what they were seeing, and the three of them instantly understood that Sondra must've been the girl who bumped into Dallas twice, and not to mention the girl who was at the bowling alley and whacked Johnny in the nose the night before.

"Miss Prescott...tsk, tsk, tsk. Late again for my class, I see," Mrs. Williams shook her head with a dissapointed expression on her face, gaining back everybody's attention in the classroom, except Johnny's, who's attention was still lost on Sondra. Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit all gazed and peaked a bit over at the gangs pet to notice how he wasn't paying any attention to the teacher for one heck of a major change. Sondra's face heated up. She absoluetly _hated _being the center of attention, especially during a time like that when she didn't have much make-up left over to help her cover her terrible black eye, thanks to her and Iris's father.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. Mrs. Williams, I mean," Sondra apologized, her voice soft and innocent so hardly anybody could hear her words, as she fiddled around with her fingertips, trying to forget the reason she was late. Dominic had just finished giving her a longer beating then usual, and it was only because Sondra asked if she could have at least one thing to eat for breakfast. All she remembered after that was getting a wooden spoon and leather belt beat down by Dominic, followed by getting saliva that smelt like tobacco spit on her by Spring.

"Well, just take a seat because I don't think your actual seat is available today. I'll call your parents later and inform them about your ceasless arrivals," Mrs. Williams said as she placed her hands on her hips, keeping her cold eyes on Sondra, causing the poor girls arms to start to tremble from remembering the terrifying glares of her mother and father, right before Sondra's books fell right out of her hands and hit the floor with different loud **_BANGS!_**

Sondra let out a nervous/scared yelp as she jumped a bit, right when everybody started to burst out laughing, except Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Johnny, and Mrs. Williams just closed her eyes, pinched the upper part of her nose with her free hand, and released a deep breath of new annoyed thoughts and feelings, trying her best to get passed this splitting headache that always came to her in her second period class. Two-bit, Pony, and Steve exchanged looks, finding what Sondra just did not funny at all, unlike everybody else in the classroom, minus Johnny, of course.

Sondra took in a little, soft breath and released it, right before she got down on her knees and started recieving back her books and folders on her own. Just then though, the eldest Prescott heard a chair get scootched back, and right after that, she witnessed Johnny Cade get down across from her and start helping her picking up her books and other supplies. Sondra's eyes grew a bit as she froze, tuning out the other students laughter as if it was never happening. Johnny gazed up, a shy; small; handsome grin on his face as his innocent black eyes stared deep in contact with Sondra's pale blue eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Baby," Johnny softly spoke up, keeping it very quiet so only Sondra could hear his words. Sondra's eyes grew a little bigger out of shock, questioning deeply to herself on how in the world did Johnny know her nickname.

"Oh, um...h-how'd you...h-how..." Sondra began trying her best to get the words out of her, but she was just too shy and sensitive that she couldn't choke them out right one bit. But to her surprise, Johnny was still grinning at her, laughter dancing in his shimmering black eyes, and he certainly did look...like a nice guy, according to Sondra.

"Your two friends, Rebecca and Charlie. They told me your nickname and your kid sisters name. Iris, I believe it was...right?" Johnny asked. Shyly, Sondra tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear as she slipped up another one of her books, nodding her head a couple of times to answer Johnny's question. In Sondra's mind, she couldn't really believe that Johnny was actually talking to her and helping her out by picking her books back up.

"Hey, cool!" Johnny's voice suddenly struck into Sondra's mind again, and when she looked up, she noticed that Johnny had found her report on _Gone With The Wind_. Sondra's face heated up with embarrassment as she took down a lump in her throat, thinking to herself that she must've looked like a huge geek by writing a long report on such a high-scaled book for her advanced writing class. Ponyboy realized the piece of paper that Johnny was holding from his and Two-bit's table, and noticed that the fancy handwriting that was written on the white paper was speaking about _Gone With The Wind_.

"You love _Gone With The Wind_, too?" Johnny asked, allowing Sondra to gently snatch the book report out of his hands and slip it back into her folder.

"...It's my favorite book," Sondra finally spoke up with her soft and innocent voice, and for the first time ever, Johnny could actually understand her pretty voice and take in her words instead of her stammers and stutters. Johnny's eyes sparked up with both excitement and joy as he started gathering up more books and folders of Sondra's.

"It's my favorite book, too, ya dig?" Johnny asked, and right after he said that, Sondra formed a confused expression on her face as she tilted her head like a confused puppy-dog would do when they're trying to learn a new trick or something. When he didn't get any kind of verbal response, Johnny realized what he said that might've confused Sondra, but just as he opened his mouth to say something, someone else's voice spoke up.

"Mr. Cade! Miss Prescott! Both of you! Hurry on back to your seats! Now!" Mrs. Williams ordered with her harsh, barking-like voice, making both Sondra and Johnny flinch and yelp a little. All of the students full, undivided attention went to Johnny and Sondra, who were both now quiet and finishing up with retrieving Sondra's supplies. After Johnny handed over the rest of Sondra's books and whatnot, Sondra quietly and shyly thanked him, which made Johnny begin to heat up a little bit, and he grinned his sweet; small; handsome smile again as he stood up from the floor. After that, to Sondra's surprise yet again, Johnny reached his hand down towards her, meaning that he was offering to help her up. Hesitantly and shyly, Sondra took a gentle hold of Johnny's hand, and the sixteen-year-old Cade pulled the fourteen-year-old Prescott up from the floor, right before Johnny gave her one last grin, released her hand, then took his seat again, recieving secret smirks from Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit.

"Um, Mrs. Williams," Sondra gulped "where can I actually sit since my seat isn't available?"

"Well, how about I change your seating arrangment, okay, Miss Prescott?" Mrs. Williams suggested. Sondra only shrugged her free arms shoulder, meaning that she was agreeing with a sure. "There's an empty seat behind Johnathan, meaning you can sit with Joey."

Sondra secretly gulped, taking down a baseball-sized lump in her throat as she began feeling her heart racing rapidly in her chest. I'm going to be sitting behind _Greasers_ and next to a _Soc_, Sondra thought nervously to herself, but she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. With everyone's attention still on her, Sondra hestiantly made her way over to the second table from the front of the classroom, which was behind Johnny's and Steve's table. Sondra pulled out the free chair that was beside the handsome-looking Soc that had dark skin, brunette hair, and dark green eyes.

"Alright, class. After that review of square roots and taking notes, which somebody will have to loan Mr. Matthews and Miss Prescott sometime soon, it's time to move on with our next lesson." Mrs. Williams announced as she turned around to face the board, right before she started writing down all kinds of different steps and new math words that Ponyboy, Johnny, and Kitten (even though she's not in their math period.) already understood. That Joey Soc narrowed his eyes then, and peaked over at Sondra, who was now extremely prepared with her homework now out in front of her, her math notebook opened, and a sharpened pencil being held in her writing hand. Joey clenched his teeth together a bit as he rolled his dark green eyes.

"..Trashy Regular..." Joey growled under his breath as he brushed some of his brunette hair over with his hand, and he looked away from Sondra as he said it, only so he could look nonchalant. Without any hesitation, Sondra sat her pencil down and started feeling uncomfortable, placing her right hand on her left shoulder, and then her left hand on her right side. Her face heated up bright, bright red, as her throat began feeling sore on the inside from holding back tears. And it was all because of yet another Soc calling her some name just because she was marked with the label of a Rugular. Man, Sondra didn't know how in the world she was supposed to get through yet another day of more mocking, insults, and laughter.

After about another fifteen minutes, the bell rang its jingle, meaning that second period was over and it was time to head to third period. Everybody instantly jumped up from their seats, except Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-bit, and Steve, who all waited for each other, and even Sondra took her time with gathering up the last of her homework and other assignments for other classes, but just as she was about to walk out the door of the classroom, Mrs. Williams called out, "Miss Prescott! Stay back for a moment, please."

A worried pout formed on Sondra's face as she started nervously rolling her eyes, first rolling them down to the lower right, and then over to the lower left, and lastly down the center, before she focused them back straight and turned back around, slumping her way over to the teachers desk where Mrs. Williams was grading the homework from the day before. Johnny nervously glanced over at Sondra, hoping to death that she wasn't in trouble, while Ponyboy waited for Two-bit to finish copying down his notes, and Steve gathered up his books and supplies.

"Alright, I got them finished, Pone. Thanks," Two-bit said, referring to writing down the math notes, as he handed Ponyboy back his math notebook.

"No problem, Two-bit. Say, you guys ready to go now? Steve? Johnny-cake? We need to meet up with Kitten to head to health class as usual," Ponyboy instructed.

Steve nodded his head, picking up his books and everything else of his from his and Johnny's table. "Yeah, I'm ready. You ready, Johnny-cake?"

"Oh, um...yeah, I'm ready," Johnny hesitantly responded, pinning his books to his hip, and with that, the four male Greasers left the classroom. But before Johnny walked out the door to follow Pony, Two-bit, and Steve, he stopped and looked back at Sondra, just as she peaked over her shoulder and witnessed the eldest Cade shyly turn bright, bright pink a bit, as his innocent black eyes battered a little bit in a shy manner. To Johnny's surprise though, Sondra actually forced herself to grow at least a small and pretty grin towards Johnny as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear. Johnny grinned back, still remaining shy with his heart beating like a wild and crazy drum in his chest.

"Johnny! Kid, come on!" Two-bit's voice called out from the hallway. "We got to meet up with Kitty-Cat!"

"Oh, yeah! I'm coming!" Johnny said, and with one more golden flash from his shimmering black eyes towards Sondra, he was out of the classroom. Sondra pinned her books to her stomach in a half nervous/half shy way, and she wiped her beautiful; small grin off from her face, right before she turned her attention back around to see Mrs. Williams, who was now gazing back at her with a curious expression on her face. Sondra bit her lip nervously, her pale blue eyes now pleading.

"Sondra, I'm growing very concerned about you. You're coming to school late lately, you're getting all kinds of strange injuries like this terrible black eye of yours, you keep telling me that your parents are always too busy to come in for any meetings, and you're recently failing this class. Is there something going on that you're not sharing with anybody?" Mrs. Williams questioned, her tone filled with worry and nervousness. Sondra secretly gulped as she began heating up on the inside a bit from so much fear and guilt at just the plain thoughts of her and Iris's folks. However, Sondra still didn't want to speak a single word about Dominic and/or Spring to anyone no matter what.

"No, Mrs. Williams. I'm perfectly peachy fine. I'm just a klutz with getting these injuries, my alarm clock is busted, and both of my parents are busy working with their jobs to come to any meeting." Sondra listed. Mrs. Williams sat her pen that she was grading with down, then she crossed her arms over her chest. She pouted.

"Well then, as for your grade, I think you're in desperate need of a tutor for math because you seem to be failing only this class." Mrs. Williams pointed out. Sondra shrugged her shoulders.

"Who'd you have in mind for tutoring me, Mrs. Williams?" Sondra asked, innocently. Mrs. Williams bit down on her lip as she gazed at her wedding ring, right before she started scratching her chin, thinking heavily about Sondra's question.

"I was actually thinking about Mr. Curtis turtoring you, considering that he skipped a grade and got straight A's for his whole life since grade-school, but he's busy with track and whatnot. So, I think Mr. Cade will do just fine," Mrs. Williams grinned a little as she nodded her head. Sondra's eyes grew big a bit as her heart took one major leap in her chest after hearing Mrs. Williams say the name of the student who could tutor her in math.

"Johnathan?!" Sondra asked, half shyly/half nervously.

"Yes, Johnathan Alexander Cade. He's gotten straight A's since grade-school, too, and he's a very smart boy, just like Mr. Curtis, but he's very shy, as you can properly tell," Mrs. Williams listed.

"...Uh huh..." Sondra nodded her head as she scratched the back of her head with her free hand. "...Well, I guess he'll be a fine tutor for me, Mrs. Williams."

Mrs. Williams smiled again. "I think so, too. Alright, now that that's over with, what class are you going to next?"

"Social studies," Sondra answered "why?"

"I'm just going to write you a pass so you won't get in trouble if you get there after the bell rings." Mrs. Williams explained as she pulled out a small slip of paper that was used to write passes on, and she started explaining everything on the small slip of bright yellow paper, signing it with her name afterwards.

Meanwhile with Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Johnny, the four of them had just met up with Kitten outside the doorway of her second period class.

"Hey, guys," Kitten greeted as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand that wasn't being used to keep her books pinned to her side. "Sorry I'm a bit later then usual. I was just sleeping a bit."

A confused expression swiped across Steve's face after he, Johnny, Two-bit, and Ponyboy took in Kitten's words. "Kitty, you were in science class."

"Exactly," Kitten nodded her head with her beautiful, golden smile on her face. "It's the perfect timing for a nap."

"Heck, yeah!" Two-bit cheered as he and Kitten did a high-five, while Johnny and Ponyboy chuckled a bit together, and Steve grinned as he playfully rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, Two-bit," Kitten said to the wisecracker of the gang, her sweet and pretty grin still straight on her face. "You fell asleep in math class again?"

"Oh, Kitty-Cat!" Two-bit exclaimed, his voice full of cheer and happiness, as he pretended to wipe away a phony tear from one of his eyes. "You know me so well!"

Kitten placed her free hand on her hip as she continued grinning, and she rolled her eyes in a playful manner. "Let's just get to health class before Mr. Morris goes insane not knowing where we are. Oh, and say, haven't you guys spotted that Baby girl at all today?"

Steve, Ponyboy, and Two-bit nodded their heads as Johnny just looked down at the floor while he walked with his four Greaser buds. His sweet and innocent black eyes were now shimmering off pure shyness, and you could see the color of a bright, bright pink start to stain the skin upon his face, especially his cheeks.

Kitten, Two-bit, Ponyboy, and Steve each grew smirks after they realized Johnny's facial expressions and how he wasn't talking like he usually would with them. The four other Greasers that were smirking exchanged their expressions with one another, right before they started taking turns with talking again.

"So, Johnny-cake, how'd you like talking to your girlfriend when you were helping her pick up her books?" Ponyboy chuckled.

Johnny instantly shot his attention towards his four friends, realizing their smirks towards him. Johnny attempted keeping his blushing under control so it wouldn't show on his face, but it was a little too late for that.

"She's _not _my girlfriend!" Johnny objected "I'm not even sure if she thinks of me as an actual friend yet, so you guys just might as well drop it, ya dig?"

Two-bit rolled his eyes, his big; goofy smile remaining plastered on his face. "Well, Johnny-cake, we'll go on ahead and stop_ for now_, but we'll get back to it sooner or later." Two-bit playfully warned, and Ponyboy, Kitten, and Steve nodded their heads with full, absolute agreement. Johnny couldn't help himself to at least crack a small grin at his four friends, because he knew that they cared about him, but he still couldn't help himself to blush when thinking about what they said about them talking about him and Sondra actually dating. We can't actually date, Johnny thought to himself...or can we? No! Yes! Maybe...is it actually possible? All Johnny could think at that moment was that, and not only that, but it was obvious that it was going to be a _long _day of school...and possibly a long rest of his life.

Hours past, the clock ticking and the bell ringing its jingle, and before anybody could even see it coming, the clock struck 2:30 in the afternoon and the final bell of the day rang, meaning that the school day was officially over. Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Johnny had all finished packing up their backpacks to get going back to the Curtis's house, but the four of them went to Kitten's locker to wait for her to finish packing up her book bag and stacking away the rest of her non-needing books and supplies until the next day.

"Um, definition for nomenclature?" Two-bit asked, kicking back flat against the closed lockers with his writing homework and a pencil, his backpack already swung over his shoulder.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Defination of lazy, Two-bit Erwin Matthews," he moaned "do your own homework!"

"Oh, come on! Ponyboy, you're the walking book in the gang. You should know." Two-bit said, turning his attention to the youngest Curtis, who was waiting on the opposite side of Kitten for her to pack up the rest of her stuff either inside of her locker, or her backpack. Ponyboy grinned a little as he rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you just crack open a book and find the defination yourself, Two-bit?" Ponyboy asked.

"I prefer the dictionary!" Steve added onto what Pony just said, his voice filled with annoyed feelings though.

"Or maybe you could go to the library and try finding your homework definations there, Two-bit. It's pretty obvious that we can't give you the answers to all of your questions and problems. It's also pretty obvious that the teachers will be able to find out something's up by you keep getting good grades!" Kitten giggled, slipping one of her folders into her backpack. Ponyboy and Steve both joined in with their female friends laughter, and even Johnny couldn't help cracking a grin and chuckling a bit himself. Two-bit, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes at the joke as he slipped his homework into his book bag, right before swinging it back over his shoulder.

"Whatever. You guys laugh now, but I'll just copy it down from one of those Regulars in the back of the class tomorrow." Two-bit shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really care what I do, as long as I don't need to crack a book at all."

"As long as you don't copy anything from that Baby girl, then go right on ahead." Johnny instructed.

Two-bit smirked as Ponyboy, Kitten, and Steve exchanged new grins.

"How come I can't copy Baby's homework, Johnny-cake? Because she's your girlfriend?" Two-bit snickered.

Johnny rolled his eyes as he shook his head, his face starting to turn bright, bright pink a bit again when thinking about Two-bit's question. "No, because I know that you threaten the Regulars that you want to copy from, Two-bit."

"Okay, guilty is charged there," Two-bit admitted, which instantly made Johnny, Ponyboy, Kitten, and even Steve all laugh together. Two-bit cracked his big; goofy grin as he rolled his eyes. "Say, Kit-Cat, you ready yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." Kitten nodded her head as she stood up from the floor with her backpack now being worn on her back, and she slammed her locker shut, right before she started out the front glass doors of the school with Ponyboy, Two-bit, Johnny, and Steve following by her sides. But the exact moment that the five Greasers began their way down the stone steps of the school, they saw a whole bunch of other students, mostly Socs, gathered around in a circle cheering and clapping their hands together rapidly.

"Yikes! What's going on?!" Johnny asked, starting to tremble a little bit from just witnessing the gathering of cheering and clapping Socs and Regulars.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out!" Two-bit instructed "come on, guys! And gal!"

Without anymore words needing to be said, Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Kitten all took off as fast as they could until they made it to the circle of surrounding students, and the five Greasers pushed and nudged their way towards the front to see what all of this dramatic cheering and clapping was about. After making it all the way to the front, Pony, Kitty, Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny stood close to each other, shocked/surprised expressions now plastered on their faces. Their eyes were widened, and their mouths were now hanging open to form 'O' shapes. All of this cheering and clapping from these other students were coming from Sondra and Joey _fighting_, and heck, Joey was losing big time!

Joey had attempted to karate-kick Sondra in the head to get her down to the ground, but Sondra ducked instantly, sending Joey's foot to just go over her head, and right after the eldest Prescott got back up from the ground after dunking, she grabbed Joey's shoulder with one clenched fist, and then she punched him straight in the face with her other clenched fist. The exact second that Joey fell backside down to the ground, Sondra pounched right on him and started fighting him, slapping and punching him as he grabbed her hair a bit and yanked her around hard a bit. The two of them were rolling around in the dirt, getting smudged and covered with all kinds of different specks of the dirty dirt, but Sondra didn't mind one bit, considering that she was a tomboy and was used to getting dirty, especially when she needed to in any kind of situation.

"AH! THESE PANTS ARE EXPENSIVE LEATHER, REGULAR!" Joey hollered as he kicked Sondra off wrestling him down, and she fell straight off from him, but no matter how much pain Sondra was feeling, she wasn't allowing Joey to win. Not one bit. Joey's clenched fist sprang up into Sondra's view, but before he could bring it down and cause it to strike her in the face, Sondra rolled over and Joey punched the ground instead of the oldest Prescott, causing his knuckles to get stained with some new raw skin and blood, along with some sort of wet mud. Joey let out a snarl of pain, but then he swung around and punched Sondra across her face. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Sondra from punching right back, right before she kneed Joey in the gut, and then kicked him with one heck of a major kick in his shin.

"Dang, that Baby girl knows how to fight for a Regular!" Two-bit howled, his tone now cheerful with an amused smile now plastered on his face, and his eyes were shimmering off with interest.

"Are you kidding, Two-bit?! She may be excellent at fighting, but she could seriously get hurt!" Steve informed as he thumped the wisecracker of the Greasers gang over the head, but Two-bit was still lost and interested in the fight.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ponyboy asked the nearest person that wasn't a Soc.

"Oh," the male Regular realized that Pony was asking him that question. "I don't know. He just pushed her when she was simply walking and he called her a filfthy Regular, and she just lost it, punching him down before the fight broke out."

"Isn't this Soc the Joey guy from our math class? You know, the one that Baby has to sit next to from now on?" Steve asked, curiously, even though his surprised/shocked expression was back on his face.

"Oh, god! It is!" Johnny gasped "shouldn't we do something?!"

"Like what?! Jump in and get killed?!" Steve asked. Johnny shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know! But we can't just stand here and watch Baby get possibly injured!" Johnny informed. Just as Steve was about to open his mouth and say something back, Johnny hopped into the fight and pushed Joey back after he attempted to get on top of Sondra to make it easier to beat her down. Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-bit, and Steve all gasped as they watched Johnny pull Sondra back behind him to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt in anymore ways or forms by Joey.

"Johnny, what are you doing?! Get out of there!" Ponyboy worriedly exclaimed, but Johnny shook his head, clenching his fists out in front of him with Sondra remaining behind him.

"You listen to your so called friends, Grease-head! This ain't your fight! Back off, squirt!" Joey ordered, his voice getting angrier and angrier with every word he proclaimed from his lips. But Johnny shook his head again, and to Kitten's, Steve's, Two-bit's, and Ponyboy's surprise, Johnny actually clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes in an angry way. Johnathan Alexander Cade _never _glared at _anybody_. Johnny couldn't even say "Boo!" to a goose, but he could actually scowl at a Soc all of the sudden in order to protect Sondra.

"I ain't going to let you hurt her!" Johnny exclaimed. Sondra couldn't believe what words just came out of Johnny's mouth. He was actually _protecting _her. The only people who've ever protected Sondra was Charlie and Rebecca, but they weren't at her school to help her out with the other students. So, Sondra's not really protected, and neither is Iris, because their folks are absuive, and Rebecca and Charlie couldn't witness what they went through at home, nor what Sondra goes through in school and on her walks home alone.

"Oh, what are you going to do, shorty?! Climb a latter and punch me across the face?!" Joey laughed at Johnny, but right after he said that, Ponyboy, Two-bit, Kitten, and Steve heard shocking words come out of Johnny's words that they _never _figured he'd say _ever_.

"No...you're going to come down here!" Johnny exclaimed, and right after he said those words, he kicked his leg up and let's just say it struck Joey somewhere that you _never_ want to get kicked in. Joey let out a huge howl of pain as he fell straight down onto his knees, right before he felt a harsh and painful sting slap across his face by Johnny, a loud _**SMACK** _echoing off, making everybody in the surrounding circle let out gasps of shock, especially Ponyboy, Kitten, Steve, and Two-bit.

"WHY YOU-" Joey went on hollering and cursing, calling Johnny every word in the book as he got enough recovery over Johnny's leg meeting him, and before anybody could see it coming, Joey flung his fist back to fire Johnny hard in the throat, but before Joey could strike him, Sondra pushed Johnny out of the way, sending him to the ground for his own good.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" Sondra yelled, and with that, she nailed Joey straight in the throat, sending him back down to the dirt and mud. Just as Sondra was about to leap down to Joey so she could finish him off, a loud male voice was heard hollering over all of the students shocked gasps and startled whispers. All of the students shut themselves up and turned their full, undivided attention over to where the male voice was shouting angrily and loudly from, and in less then ten seconds, the principal, Mr. Loomis bashed his way through the surrounding teenagers, and when he saw Joey on the ground with Sondra being the only one within the circle, Johnny now being out because Two-bit dragged him out of it after Sondra pushed him down to save him from getting striked with a crushing blow of Joey's fist, Mr. Loomis's eyes instantly flooded with anger, and his nose crinkled up as he clenched his teeth with heavy anger.

"What in the world are you doing, young lady?!" Mr. Loomis asked Sondra as he grabbed her by her arm, but she instantly yanked herself free and she began stomping away, pushing all of the other students out of her path as they all watched her begin to exit off of school ground. Mr. Loomis just rolled his eyes, being the Soc that he was, and mumbled to himself that Sondra was nothing but a Regular, and he just announced to the other students to just head on home and that he'd see them tomorrow, right before he began his way back into the school to finish some paper work.

"Well, you guys heard the man. Let's get on back to the Curtis's residents." Two-bit said, but Johnny instantly shook his head after taking in what the wisecracker of the gang just said.

"In a minute, okay, guys? And gal? I need to talk to Baby first, and make sure that she's alright." Johnny shared, and without sticking around to hear what any of his best buds would say, Johnny trotted to keep up with Sondra, who wasn't far away at all just yet. Ponyboy, Two-bit, Kitten, and Steve kept their eyes on Johnny as he quickly made it all the way to Sondra before she could turn around the corner.

"Baby! Baby, wait!" Johnny pleaded as he gently grabbed a hold of Sondra's wrist, and she instantly released a little yelp as she quickly turned around and noticed that it was Johnny who was holding onto her wrist instead of some Soc or anybody else that was dangerous towards Regulars like her.

"Oh, Johnathan. It's only you." Sondra sighed with relief, gently pulling her wrist out of Johnny's gentle grip, and she used that hand to wipe away the few tears from inside her pale blue eyes, and some dirt smudges from her cheeks.

"Yes, it's only me," Johnny nodded his head. "But you can call me Johnny, or Johnny-cake if you like that. I was just wondering if you were alright...are you alright?"

"...Why shouldn't I be? I might as well be absoluetly perfect...listen, Johnny, I apperciate that you wanted to help me, but I sort of wish that you didn't."

"What?" Johnny asked, a nervous lump now in his throat and a sorrow puppy-dog expression upon his face. "How come, Baby? I was only worried that you'd get hurt that I..."

"Aw, shucks, Johnny-cake! I was doing just fine! Trust me, I go through way worse whether I'm in school or not! You're just lucky that I pushed you out of the way in order to save you from a rock-hard punch!" Sondra snapped, which certainly made Johnny flinch and jump a bit, while he released a small yelp from his lips.

"Man, Baby, I'm sorry! I was only trying to help you!" Johnny exclaimed, only raising his voice in order to get that message through Sondra's head. Sondra narrowed her tearful eyes as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Just don't ever do that again! If you do and get hurt...I'll never be able to forgive myself..." Sondra sighed. She quickly turned away and trotted off, not taking a single look back or waiting for Johnny to say a single word back to her. Johnny kept his slightly widened eyes and half-way dropped open mouth on Sondra until she was completely out of sight. Johnny was mainly concentrating on what last thing Sondra said to him before she turned around and fast-walked off. Wiping his expression off from his face, Johnny simply turned back around and stuffed his hands into his jeans jackets pockets, making his way back over to Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-bit, and Steve, who were now all waiting by Two-bit's old, souped-up truck.

"Say, Johnny-cake, you're back." Kitten said with her beautiful grin on her face, and Johnny just simply nodded his head.

"How was Miss Super Regular?" Two-bit, who was now smoking a caner stick, questioned.

"Please don't call her that, Two-bit." Johnny kindly ordered. Two-bit took in a deep breath of his cigarette, and then he blew out a perfect gray puff of a smoke ring, shrugging his shoulders afterwards.

"Fine. How was Baby?" Two-bit asked his same question, but he changed it by using Sondra's nickname instead of calling her by her label.

"She was kind of...angry...at me." Johnny sighed, desperatly wishing that he was at least a tiny bit good at lying at that timing, because he didn't want to make Sondra look or seem bad towards Ponyboy, Kitten, Steve, and Two-bit.

"Baby was mad at you?!" Ponyboy gasped, and Johnny only regretingly nodded his head. Kitten and Ponyboy both then exchanged pouts as Steve sighed and patted Johnny's shoulder to help cheer him up at least a little bit. Two-bit only shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, putting his cigarette out while he was at it.

"I told yawl that Regulars were no good. Ya hear what Baby just did to Johnny-cake, right?" Two-bit asked Steve, Pony, and Kitten, as if Johnny wasn't even there or wasn't listening when he truly was. Ponyboy, Steve, and Kitten all nodded their heads with full regret. "Well, it seems like even though she was helped out and protected a bit by him during this fight she had with Joey, she doesn't even think it's good enough to trust him."

"Actually, Two-bit," Johnny spoke up, which instantly gained him his buddies attention. "She told me that she appreciated my help, but she doesn't want me to do it ever again because she said if I got hurt...she couldn't...couldn't..."

"Couldn't what, Johnny-cake?" Kitten shrugged her shoulders, but all Johnny did in response was shake his head.

"Nevermind. Let's just get back to the Curtis's place." Johnny then told his buddies.

"Alrighty then. If you say so. Here's my keys, Johnny-cake. Seriously, kid, you're sixteen and need to learn to drive, so let's start your practicing by you driving to the Curtis's," Two-bit instructed as he reached his hand into his jeans pocket, and then he pulled out his trucks keys, tossing them over to Johnny, who caught them with no problems or issues at all. Johnny looked at the keys to Two-bit's truck now in the palm of his hand with his half worred/half thinking look on his face, but it looked more worried then ever. Two-bit had just hopped into the shotgun seat of his truck, and Kitten and Steve climbed into the back seat, but Ponyboy stopped himself from getting into the back seat with Steve and Kitten when he realized Johnny's facial expression.

"Johnny-cake, are you okay?" Ponyboy asked, concerndly. "If this is about that Baby girl, maybe it's better off if you don't talk to her anymore."

Johnny shook his head after hearing Ponyboy say that, but he was truly thinking heavily about the last words that Sondra said to him before she trotted away from him, not giving him a chance to say anything else back.

"No, it ain't that..." Johnny lied, keeping his eyes on the keys of Two-bit's truck that were still remaining in the palm of his hand.

"What is it then, buddy?" Pony questioned, his tone still completely concerned.

"...Just remember to refasten your seatbelt with me behind the wheel..." Johnny instructed, and with that, he climbed into the drivers seat of Two-bit's old, souped-up truck, and Ponyboy jumped into the back seat with Kitten and Steve.

**A/N: Well, that's chapter 4! Johnny and Sondra just had a fight...or did they? Did it really end like a fight or not? Hm...**

**Anyway, just to say this, my great friend, booklover450, is in the hospital and she's a whole lot better, but if you all will please, pray for her health to fully return. I've been praying and I know it's working because she's getting better and better each and every day now. She's just such a great friend that I can't ever live without and I just had to inform you all about that!**

**Well, tune yawl next time in chapter 5! Stay tuned! Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	5. Driving Lessons and Saved By Regulars

**A/N: Yo, people! Thank you all for the reviews and reading up to this point! And, just to set some questions I recieved, yes, Charlie and Rebecca do go to school, but it's a different high school, and how's Johnny at driving? Well, that'll be explained in this chapter! Anywho, now it's time to start chapter 5! Please review! And enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 5_

"Alright, Johnny-cake. You got your seatbelt on, the mirrors are in perfect rage, and the cars actually started. Now, all you have to do is drive." Steve listed, one of his rare smiles plastered on his face as he simply kicked back, relaxing his arms behind his head with Kitten sitting inbetween him and Ponyboy, reading over some of her homework while Ponyboy just simply read a book. Johnny's eyes slimly grew big as his fingers tightened around the wheel of Two-bit's old; souped-up truck, and he took down a huge lump in his throat. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest as he began feeling hot, and he took in and let out deep, but soft breaths.

"You okay, kid?" Johnny heard Two-bit's voice ask him from the passengers seat. The oldest Cade gulped down another lump in his throat as he took a second to gaze around the truck, seeing his four buddies all having their eyes concerndly glued on him now. Johnny's heart was beating faster and faster with every pump it made in his chest.

"Um...yeah...it's just that...uh..." Johnny nervously stuttered, feeling embarrassment starting to swarm around inside of him from the question that he was about to ask. "...Do I _have _to drive?"

To Johnny's surprise, Two-bit actually let out a laugh, and when the oldest Cade glanced over at him, he was grinning one of his big; goofy smiles with his eyes now closed and he was kicking back in the passengers seat, his arms resting behind his head, along with his right leg being crossed over his left. "Well, Johnny-cake, you want to learn to drive, right?"

"Well, yes, but I-" Johnny tried explaining, but Two-bit cut him off.

"But nothing, Johnny," Two-bit innocently spoke up. "If you want to learn how to drive, you actually got to get behind the wheel and take action with the road, ya dig?"

Johnny's eyes were now widened, now focusing back out the windshield of Two-bit's old; souped-up truck as he took in and thought about heavily what Two-bit just told him. "Yeah..." Johnny gulped, his black eyes still huge from digesting the wisecrackers words. "But I'm not worried about taking action on the road...I'm worried on taking action on the _people _who are on the road."

"Oh, please, Johnny-cake!" Two-bit laughed "if that ever happens, just simply do what I do when you're getting close to those people on the road."

"Which is?" Johnny asked, cautiously, eyeing Two-bit a bit from the corner of his eye. He could see that the wisecracker was still smiling his big and goofy grin.

"Honk the horn like there's no tomorrow until they finally get out of the way!" Two-bit howled with his usual laughter overtaking most of his speaking.

Ponyboy, Kitten, and Steve realized that Johnny's hands tensed up even more on the wheel as he cringed a bit after hearing Two-bit say that. Johnny knew that he was joking, him being Two-bit Erwin Matthews and all, but during very important times in life, like when your life could end while being the one behind the wheel or just seriously injured, Johnny couldn't take many of Two-bit's jokes as actual jokes. They just pressured him and put more weight of worries and fears on his mind and heart, causing him to heat and tense up even more. Steve rolled his eyes at that joke that Two-bit just cracked, right before he reached over and thumped Two-bit over the head, causing the wisecracker to stop his laughing and let out an "Ow!" from his lips, while he rubbed the back of his head from where Steve thumped him.

"I swear, Two-bit," Steve moaned through his gritting teeth. "I have a hard time believing that you're one of my best buds!"

Two-bit continued rubbing the back of his head, but he forced himself to smile another one of his big and goofy smiles. "I love you, too, man!"

Ponyboy and Kitten rolled their eyes as Steve just thumped Two-bit over the head again, before he turned his attention to Johnny, who was still gazing out the windshield fearfully, and it was like all of the color had just drained out of his skin. It was as if Johnny had just spotted a ghost or something. His innocent black eyes were still widened and glimmering off pure fear, and his whole face was bright red from him heating up so much. Also, when Pony, Steve, Kitten, and Two-bit were all dead silent, they could've sworn that they could hear Johnny's heart rapidly racing like a wild and crazy horse in his chest.

"Don't worry, Johnny. You'll do fine at driving." Kitten assured with her warm; bright; and golden grin on her face to help back up her promise.

"Kitty-Cat's right, Johnny-cake," Ponyboy nodded his head with full agreement at what Kitten just pointed out. "Have some faith in yourself, okay?"

Johnny cringed a little again. "Sure...just remind me to have faith and that I'm an excellent driver when we're in jail or the hospital."

"Oh, come on, Johnny-cake, don't think that," Steve gave the eldest Cade a couple comforting pats on hisd shoulder. "You're not Two-bit here. We're not going to the slammer or the hospital. Let's just drive to the Curtis's house."

"Actually," Johnny sighed "I've been meaning to tell you guys, and gal, that we have to pick Cassidy up from school today because Dally is busy babysitting Jocelyn and Darry's at work."

"Well then," Ponyboy shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go pick up Carla. Just relax and easy the wheel."

"...Before you break it under your own fingertips..." Two-bit murmured with some chuckles added into his soft speaking, and he figured that no one would hear him, but he was proved wrong when he realized that Steve, Ponyboy, and Kitten were all eyeing him, Steve with anger and annoyed thoughts and feelings, while Ponyboy's and Kitten's were simply just giving the message off to Two-bit to just can it with the driving jokes and to put a sock in it. "...Sorry..." Two-bit mumbled, pretending to lock his mouth shut and throw away the key after saying his apology. Johnny relaxingly closed his eyes and took in one more deep breath, right before he let it out and reopened his eyes. Ponyboy, Steve, Kitten, and Two-bit all waited patiently, feeling filled up with suspense now to see how Johnny would do, and after about ten more seconds of waiting, Johnny gently stepped his foot down on the gas. However, right after the truck started moving back slowly a little, the eldest Cade yelped and slammed his foot down on the brake, causing Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, Kitten, and himself to fly foward a bit. Two-bit banged his head down when he flew foward because unlike the other Greasers that were in the truck, Two-bit wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Johnny's face burned up with humiliation as his black eyes overwhelmed with some embarrassed tears.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry, guys! And gal!" Johnny pleaded and begged for forgiveness, his hands still remaining tightly clenched on the wheel of Two-bit's truck, and his body began trembling from both humiliation, and some fear to how his buddies would react to his first attempt of driving.

"Aw, don't sweat it, Johnny-cake. You didn't get anybody hurt." Two-bit grinned one of his big; goofty smiles as he rubbed the slightly red mark on his forehead from where his head met the part of his truck after Johnny slammed down on the brake. Kitten shook her head back and forth a couple times before she slightly grinned at Johnny from the back seat.

"Yeah, Johnny. Don't be woofin' over anything, okay? Just try again, and this time, don't slam down on the break. Just relax, and press down on the gas," Kitty instructed "oh, and, Two-bit, put your seatbelt on before Pony, Steve, Johnny, and I have to retrieve your body from falling out of your own car!"

Two-bit continued grinning as he playfully rolled his eyes, holding his hands up to his shoulders in a surrendering way as he chuckled a bit, giving in to what Kitten just told him to do, right before he strapped his seatbelt on around him, then rested his arms behind his head again. Hesitantly then, Johnny pressed his foot back down on the gas and felt as the truck slowly began to move out of the schools parking lot, and since Johnny was still learning and all how to drive, he kept stopping and going, stopping and going. Every three seconds or so, Johnny stopped the car by pressing down on the break, and then he started going again, right before the cycle kept coming and going around and around, but finally after the Greasers made it to the two different corners to pick from to go off of school ground, Johnny started driving with no pauses every three or so seconds.

"Now, this ain't so bad, ain't it, Johnny-cake?" Ponyboy asked about ten minutes later after Johnny began driving, and they were no longer on school ground.

"...Well, we're still alive, so that's helped my faith increase a little." Johnny shared as he looked up in the mirror to see Pony when he answered his question.

"Eyes on the road, Johnny." Kitten innocently reminded the sixteen-year-old boy, and without any hesitation, the eldest Cade shot his attention back out the windshield and at the road, being very careful and extra concerned about his driving skills when seeing all of these other cars, like Regulars SUV's, and Socs Mustangs, driving around, too. Steve yawned a bit as he gazed out his window, and Two-bit stared out of his window, too, but he was making faces and whatnot at some random Socs and even some Regulars. Kitten, on the other hand, was just reading a book called _The Giver_, and Ponyboy was looking out his window while listening to the Elvis tunes that Johnny had turned on the radio about two minutes after he began getting the hang of driving Two-bit's old; souped-up truck. Two-bit rolled down his window and started hollering out such foul language and continued making faces at Socs, which Ponyboy, Kitten, and even Steve all laughed at, while Johnny just grinned a little bit as he playfully rolled his eyes. Yep, that's typical Two-bit Erwin Matthews for you.

"YOU'RE SUCH A MISTAKE THAT THE DAY YOU WERE BORN, YOUR MOM SAID 'WHAT A TREASURE', AND YOUR DAD SAID 'YEAH, LET'S BURY HIM'!" Two-bit shouted out his window at some male Soc that was walking down the sidewalk with a couple of his buddies, and since Two-bit didn't know what else to say, he just simply spit out the window.

"OH, YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FUNNY YOU - GREASER! WHY DON'T YOU PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS YOU HIDEOUS -!" the male Soc began going on calling Two-bit every name in the book, but Two-bit only rolled his eyes and laughed loudly as Johnny drove past the male Soc and his few buddies.

"SEE YOU FREAKSHOWS IN OUR RUMBLE NEXT WEEK!" Two-bit howled full of cheer, stretching his arms by pushing his body up on the open space from where the window would usually be, but it was rolled down. Steve gasped a little at seeing how Two-bit's body was half out the window, as if he was a dog, and Steve quickly reached over and grabbed one of Two-bit's arms, jerking his body back fully into the truck.

"What the heck, Two-bit?! Are you literally trying to fall out of the car?!" Steve asked.

"Relax, _Mom_! I was wearing my seatbelt!" Two-bit smirked as he rolled up his window back up, then went back to kicking back with his arms behind his head. Steve rolled his eyes and thought to himself that he should properly start finding a new way to and from school. Steve just glanced back out the window and watched the scenery go by with Johnny driving, but about after five ot so seconds, Steve's eyes got caught on something, or _someone_.

"Hey, Johnny-cake," Steve asked "isn't that Carla?"

Johnny's eyes instantly widened, them remaining straight on the road when he truly and desperatly wished that he could turn around and ask Steve what he meant. "Huh? What, Steve? Where?"

"There! Heading into the Dingo!" Steve replied. Luckily, the five Greasers came to a stop sign, and Johnny got a chance to look over at the Dingo, his attention fast and eyes still remaining big from wondering heavily about what Steve just said about Cassidy. That's when Johnny realized that Steve was right! That _was _Cassidy heading into the Dingo, but why would she be going in there? She should still be waiting outside of her school for Johnny, Ponyboy, Kitten, Steve, and Two-bit to swing by and pick her up, but she wasn't. Instead, she was about seven or so blocks away from her school, and she was now inside of the Dingo, which was absoluetly _not _a great place for an eleven-year-old girl to go.

"Oh my god!" Johnny gasped "that _is _Carla!"

"Why is she inside the Dingo?" Kitten asked, now scratching her chin confusedly.

Johnny shook his head as he turned his attention back out the windshield. "I don't know, but we're going to find out."

Without any more words beeing said, nor did any even need to be said, Johnny gently pressed his foot back down on the gas and drove Two-bit's old; souped-up truck over until it was now directly in front of the Dingo in its very thin and narrow parking lot. Just as the five Greasers were about to pile out of the truck though, Cassidy stepped back outside from the glass doors that entered the Dingo, a five dollar bill now being held in her hands, but before she could take her third step away after exiting the Dingo, a police officer had leaped out of his car and quickly rushed over to the second oldest Cade, right before he grabbed Cassidy by her arm, making her eyes shoot big as she let out a yelp of shock.

"Excuse me, young lady!" the male police officer, who's name happened to be Officer Smith, exclaimed as he cuffed his other hand around Cassidy's cheek so he could force her to look at him. Her dark, dark brown eyes were now filled with terror and glimmering tears, all because she was super afraid of actually talking to a member of the fuzz. "You're obviously not over eighteen years of age! So you better have a really _good _and extremely _excellent _explaination to why you're inside a drinking and smoking area without anyone here that's actually over the age of eighteen!"

Johnny, Two-bit, Kitten, Ponyboy, and Steve all gasped together, as their hearts each took giant leaps in their chests from being so shocked, and it was as if the color had drained right out of all of their faces. The five Greasers eyes were now widened, and their mouths were now hanging open, and without anymore time to waste, Johnny, Pony, Kitty, Steve, and Two-bit unbuckled their seatbelts and hopped out of Two-bit's truck. But just as Johnny was about to open his mouth to exclaim to the police officer that it wasn't what it looks like with his four Greaser buds there for back up...somebody else spoke up.

"Oh, Officer!"

It was a pretty female sounding voice, and when Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-bit, Kitten, Steve, Cassidy, and Officer Smith turned their attention over to the direction to where the voice had came from, the five Greasers that were riding in Two-bit's truck couldn't believe what their eyes were meeting. There standing on the sidewalk was three Regulars, but they weren't just any Regulars...they were Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca. Rebecca had been the one who called out to Officer Smith with her loving and pretty tone of her voice. Officer Smith cocked an eyebrow confusedly as he watched Rebecca and Charlie both gaze down at Sondra, their arms being protective on both of her shoulders, and Sondra's pale blue eyes were sparkling off plead in the sunlight of the fall afternoon, and she was slimly pouting at the police officer.

"Who might you three be?" Officer Smith asked, his voice plain innocently, as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Officer, we're Jim, Debbie, and Lorena Willis," Charlie lied, instantly answering the police officer without any hesitation after taking in his question. "We just moved her from Sault Lake and we sell lumber and home-made jewelry."

Rebecca and Sondra both exchanged looks, thinking to themselves that _why _did they have to leave it to Charlie to lie to the police, even though he truly did sound so dang convincing. The Greasers all exchanged their facial expressions, too, the five of them, especially Cassidy and Johnny, knowing that Charlie was lying, and Johnny and Cassidy knew that the most because they've talked with Charlie and Rebecca at the bowling alley the night before. Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Kitten, on the other hand, were all completely shocked, having a very difficult time believing that _Regulars _were lying to the fuzz. They never thought that Regulars would ever really have that in them, risking the possibility to go to jail, that is. The Greasers always thought that they only had that in them, minus the Curtis's and the Cade's, who never get in trouble with the police.

"Well, Officer, like _Jim _told you, we're the Willis's, and we're just informing you the truth about this girl." Rebecca shared as she pointed at Cassidy for only a short moment, before she and Charlie both put their arms back on Sondra's shoulders. Sondra knew that, that meant that she was on. It's 'show time', according to Rebecca's and Charlie's plan, and a bit of her own, too. When all of the Greasers eyes met Sondra directly, they absoluetly couldn't believe it, having a hard time believing that the same girl who got into a fight on school ground and sort of argued with Johnny for him helping her, was actually going to lie to the cops for the Geeasers when she, Rebecca, and Charlie were Regulars. Officer Smith crossed his arms over his chest and glanced down at Sondra, his eyebrow cocked and eyes sort of widened from having a hard time believing that Sondra was going to talk to him for why Cassidy was in the Dingo, and Sondra only looked fourteen, which she was.

"Officer, she just went in there to fetch me because we were playing tag, and I came in and went out the back door," Sondra explained. Dang, she sounded so dang comvincing, too. It was almost like a gift that ran with her, Charlie, and Rebecca. "Ater I saw you grab her by her arm, I quickly went off to get.._Jim _and _Debbie_.."

Officer Smith kept his arms crossed as he slimly narrowed his eyes, right before he slightly perked his lips out and bit down. Then, he looked down at Cassidy, who was trying desperately to not allow her big eyes and wide open mouth to form, which she was surprisingly doing a great job at, and she shrugged her shoulders when hers and Officer Smith's eyes met.

"Well, yeah, that's what we were doing." Cassidy lied. Officer Smith took a few moments to take in Cassidy's words, and then he glanced around at each of the Greasers, who nodded their heads with full agreement towards what Cassidy just agreed to with what Rebecca, Charlie, and Sondra simply spoke about. Everyone was deeply filled with suspense, their hearts racing in their chests as Officer Smith scratched his chin and continued gazing around at the five male Greasers, the one female Greaser, and the three Regulars. Officer Smith then placed his hands on his hips and nodded his head.

"Very well," he sighed, and he started taking turns from looking back and forth from Cassidy to Sondra. "The two of you, no more running inside the Dingo, understand?"

"Yes, Officer." Cassidy and Sondra both said at the same time, while they bowed their heads at Officer Smith.

"Thanks for understanding our sister, Officer." Charlie thanked, referring to Sondra, who was pretending to be Rebecca's and Charlie's little sibling.

"Yeah," Rebecca nodded her head. "Thank you."

"Take care now." Charlie bowed his head to the two older Regulars, before he walked back over to his car, everyone's eyes still on him, until he climbed back into the drivers seat and drove off out of the Dingo's parking lot. Johnny, Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-bit, Steve, and Cassidy each let out deep breaths of relief, while Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca grinned small smiles of pride, meaning that their work there was done.

"Carla Cade!" Johnny blurted out as he walked all the way over to his little sister until the two of them were directly standing in front of each other. "What are you doing here?! You know that you usually get picked up from school!"

"Well, yeah," Cassidy gulped "but I just wanted to walk by myself today since you allow me to walk to school. And besides, I wanted to see if Buck could spare me a five dollar bill so you and I could go to the movies some time to make up from what happened yesterday with 'em Socs at the bowling alley, Johnny."

Johnny took a moment to take in what all Cassidy just said, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he grinned a little, now understanding what his little sister was getting at. "Well, don't do this again, okay? Next time, wait for one of us to come and pick you up, before some Socs could possibly jump you or the fuzz tries to find a reason to haul you in."

"Yeah, speaking of the fuzz, Carla," Two-bit snickered, finding it kind of funny that only an eleven-year-old girl got nearly in trouble by the cops just because she was walking out of the Dingo. "You were nearly hauled in. Thank God that those Regulars-"

Johnny's eyes grew big a bit as he turned his head instantly, and his attention was quickly shot on Rebecca, Charlie, and Sondra, who were beginning to walk away from the Dingo, as if nothing that just happened actually happened.

"Hey! Hey!" Johnny called out. "Baby! Rebecca! Charlie! Wait up!"

Without any hesitation after hearing their names, the three Regulars turned back around, Charlie and Rebecca growing their smiles at the eldest Cade as Sondra just shyly glanced down at the concrete and tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear. Charlie motioned Sondra and Rebecca then to follow him with a gentle motion of a slight jerk of his head, and Rebecca nodded her head with full agreement, right before she, Charlie, and Sondra all made their way back over to the six Greasers, who were all gazing at them were their shocked/surprised expressions plastered back on their faces.

"Rebecca? Charlie?" Steve shrugged his shoulders, thinking to himself that he _knows_ he heard those names before, but he couldn't quite remember when. "Who _are _you guys?"

Rebecca cocked an eyebrow as Charlie narrowed his eyes at the six Greasers in a protective manner, placing one of his hands back on Sondra's shoulder to keep her safe, because Regulars thought that all Greasers were nothing but down and dark hoods that would do anything for just a single cigarete or a bottle of beer.

"Who are _you guys_?" Charlie repeated Steve's question, but he was using it to literally ask for the Greasers names, because it was already obvious to him, Rebecca, and Sondra that they were Greasers.

"Hey, don't get uptight, please. He's just askin'," Two-bit chuckled, backing up Steve so the Regulars wouldn't get harsh with him just over one simple question. "I'm Two-bit Matthews."

"...Steve Randle." Steve bowed his head and stuffed his hands into his light blue; jeans vests pockets.

"...Ponyboy Curtis." Ponyboy greeted, his voice filled with uncertainty though.

"...Kitten Andrews." Kitten waved at the three Regulars.

"And I'm sure you guys already know us," Johnny chuckled as he placed his hand on Cassidy's shoulder, and the two of them exchanged smiles for a couple of seconds, before they gazed back over at Charlie, Rebecca, and Sondra.

"Johnny and Carla Cade." Rebecca giggled as she nodded her head. Charlie continued to grin his handsome, movie-star grin himself as he stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets, wiping his suspicious glance off from his face.

"Well, well, well, what do you know, Becky? It _is _none other then Johnny and Carla Cade in the flesh!" Charlie laughed, right before he glanced at the other Greasers then, Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-bit, and Steve now gazing at each other with absolute confusion, but also shock at the same time. Charlie cocked an eyebrow as he smirked at the Greasers gang and pulled his hands out of his jeans pockets, right before he crossed his arms over his rock-hard chest. "What do we got here? Thugs? Hoods? Or just simply teenagers who have labels, just like us, Regulars?"

Johnny and Cassidy both exchanged sudden pouts and Johnny glanced over at Sondra, who was just staying out of whatever was about to start with a sorrow expression starting to form on her face a bit, too, but she just kept her mouth shut. Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-bit, and Steve instantly gazed at Charlie like he lost his mind.

"..Um, the last one..." Ponyboy innocently shrugged his shoulders, but right after he did so, Charlie started laughing a bit, causing Rebecca to punch him in his arm, which was her way of telling Charlie to knock it off and be nice.

"What's so funny?" Steve demanded "all the kid did was answer you question here!"

Charlie continued smirking a bit as he cut his laughter and stuck his hands back into his jeans pockets. "Hey, don't be woofin' with any anger on me or my pals here, k? I don't mean anything harsh against you guys, considering that Johnny and Carla are both cool Greasers, but the thing is, the only time Rebecca, Baby, and myself, Charlie, have ever heard of regular teens with a certain label is our kind. In other words, only_ Regulars_ are simple teenagers with labels stuck on 'em, just because we ain't any Greasers or Socs, nor do we try to put any mind on them."

"Oh, Charlie," Cassidy shook her head, her tone sighing, which instantly made her the center of attention from the other Greasers and three Regulars, Sondra trying her best to look like she wasn't paying any attention, but it was obvious that she was even though she was looking down at the concrete and playing with her fingernails. "You should remember that Johnny and myself are both these Greasers, and you're talking about our friends here. They're not bad at all. Not one bit."

"...Well, except Dallas Winston." Two-bit pointed out, making him recieve a glare from Steve without any hesitated after he said that.

"You're not helping, Matthews!" Steve groaned between his teeth that were now clenched with some new anger and annoyed thoughts and feelings.

"You got to admit though, it's the truth!" Two-bit exclaimed as he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and then lit it, right before he started smoking it. Charlie cocked an eyebrow, mostly thinking about what Cassidy just said about not all Greasers being bad and dark hoods, and he looked at Rebecca, who was gazing right back at him with that 'I told ya so' expression on her face.

"Good deal with you three helping us, Rebecca..Charlie..and Baby." Kitten thanked, one of her beautiful; golden; bright grins forming on her face, as her green eyes shimmered and dazzled like two valuable emeralds.

"Well, shucks," Charlie grinned his handsome smile, as if his mocking anger from a few moments ago never exsisted, and his handsome eyes glew with so much happiness that it was as if his eyes could make any girl melt from him having such good looks. "Forgive me for saying what I said before 'bout Greasers and us, Regulars, would ya, please? Whoever is a friend of Johnny and Carla Cade, they're certainly friends of me, Rebecca, Baby, and Iris." (Iris was still at school at this time, and Rebecca, Charlie, and Baby got to go pick her up.)

"And it's no problem with us helping out Carla with that officer. Trust us, it's fine." Rebecca assured as her beautiful, model-like smile spread across her peach lip-gloss painted lips.

"Say, we never thought Regulars could ever pull it off with lying to the fuzz. How can you Regulars actually do it?" Steve questioned, his voice now filled with concern and his eyes shimmering off interest in what Charlie, Rebecca, and/or possibly Sondra would say back. Charlie continued smiling as he placed one of his hands on one of his hips, his other hand remaining jammed in his jeans pocket.

"It's not as hard as people think. Heck, just because we're Regulars doesn't mean we're people who follow the law all the time. Doing that is just plain overrated, and if you must know, it was _Baby _that came up with the idea to lie to that officer so Carla wouldn't get hauled in."

Without any hesitation, after taking in what Charlie just said, all of the Greasers shot their attention over to the fourteen-year-old girl, who was nervously beating red with her eyes sparkling with shyness as she rolled them in a worried manner, and she took down a bump in her throat in one single; big gulp. Johnny slimly grew his small; handsome; golden smile, and he slightly battered his innocent black eyes at Sondra, who's red face started turning bright, bright pink after she realized that Johnny was staring right at her; grinning handsomely.

"Charlie, Rebecca, we should get going now. We got to go get Iris from school, remember?" Sondra reminded, and all of the Greasers, minus Johnny, felt their mouths wanting to drop open, but they resisted them to do so, and their eyes grew big a little, because they were all needing to take a moment to take in the memory that just happened with them hearing Sondra's voice actually speak up, and heck, did her voice sound so charmingly beautiful and shy.

"Oh! Right!" Charlie snapped his fingers together as he smiled over at Sondra. "Let's get going. Come on, Becky and Baby. See you later, Grease-, or I mean, our new friends."

"We'll see you around, guys." Rebecca said to the Greasers gang, and with that, she headed off with Charlie and Sondra down the sidewalk. The Greasers continued watching until the three Regulars were out of sight...and Johnny kept his black eyes on Sondra, who glanced over her shoulder a bit and slimly smiled back at him, until she, Rebecca, and Charlie were officially out of sight.

"Um, is it just me, or did we become friends with some mighty tuff Regulars?!" Ponyboy asked, but his voice was full of thrill and excitement. "Johnny-cake! Cass! Aren't those Charlie and Rebecca Regulars the ones that met you guys in the bowling alley yesterday night?"

"Yeah!" Cassidy nodded her head.

"I'll explain it more on the way back to the Curtis's house. Right now though, let's drive." Johnny grinned.

**A/N: Not much else to say unless it's read yawl in the next chapter and please review! :D :D :D :D**


	6. Jumped by Socs

**A/N: Yo, people! Thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and reading up to this point! And I also am glad to inform you all that my great, tuff, golden friend, booklover450, is now healed and out of the hospital! So thank you all for supporting her in your minds if you were doing so! I'm so glad she's better, because I can't imagine my life without such an amazing friend! :D It's time to start chapter 6 then! Please review! And enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 6_

It was freezing outside. Nothing but the cold and chilly air blowing around underneath the now dark nighttime sky that was flooded with tons of dazzling stars and the big moon, out shining and glimmering all of the stars combined. There Sondra was, walking all around Greaser territory all by herself, her hands jammed in her blue-jeans jackets pockets to keep them warm as the rest of her body trembled with every single step she took, listening to her tennis shoes over and over again as they scamped on the silver sidewalk that had some yellow, red, orange, and brown leaves gently scraping along on the ground from the soft, but yet, very bone-chilling fall wind. Sondra shook, trembling like there was no tomorrow as she took her hands out of her pockets and began rubbing them up and down her blue-jeans jackets wearing arms, cuffing her hands afterwards and blowing deep, hot breaths into them to keep them warm. Iris was back at Charlie's house with Charlie and Rebecca, recieving yet another lesson on how to write this time with being blind, but since seeing her little kid sister attempting to write while she had to handle being blind forever already, Sondra didn't want to stick around and see such a sorrow scene. So, she just snuck out the front door without Charlie, Iris, and/or Rebecca noticing. Going home was obviously out of the question, otherwise Sondra would've just been beaten by Dominic and cursed at by Spring, and only after another hour or so, she'd have to leave her house again to get Iris back from Charlie's place. So, that's why Sondra was walking all by herself during that dark and chilly September night.

"I'm so on the edge of freezing to death!" Sondra complained to herself in a mumbling voice through her slimly clenched teeth. She might've been wearing her favorite light blue-jeans jacket, but the September month seemed to be getting more and more colder each and every day and night, and Sondra only wearing her jean jacket wasn't enough to keep her warm like it usually did for her in the past. Sondra took in and released a sharp; deep breath of the cool; crisp air of the chilly night, and she watched the frozen air come out of her mouth after she let the breath back out. Her pale blue eyes seemed to be a whole lot more paler when the moonlight and starlight both bounced right off of both of them in the cool darkness of the night. The fourteen-year-old girl started cursing under her breath, using every word in the book as she thought about that Joey Soc that she fought on school ground because he pushed her and called her a filfthy Regular. If there was one main thing that Sondra hated, it was the Socs. After meeting the Greasers gang (sort of), Sondra seemed to realize that not all people were bad, except the Socs seemed like they were _always _up to know good, throwin' beer blasts for kicks and taunting and teasing others; while starting a hard-core and bloody fight once or twice every day.

Sondra then thought to herself about something...that good looking tan Greaser, with the innocent pair of black eyes, jet-black; hair-greased hair, and a shy and sweet little handsome grin...Johnny Cade. Ever sense Sondra realized that Johnny was the one helping her pick up her books after dropping them in class that exact day, she couldn't really stop thinking about him. He seemed so different from all of the other boys she's hung around. Maybe because he was a Greaser, which was the most likely reason, but the other reason would possibly be how the only boy that Sondra was ever used to being around was Charlie, and he was a seventeen-year-old Regular. Johnny helping Sondra with her books, and not to mention how he actually protected and helped her a bit with the school ground fight with Joey, has been keeping the sixteen-year-old Greaser on the fourteen-year-old Regular's mind, and this means a _whole lot _more then just after spotting him in the bowling alley with his kid sister the night before.

"...He seems so...different..." Sondra told herself in such a soft whisper, as if she thought that anybody could be listening to her in the dead-cold, freezing night. "...I've never felt so..._positive _around somebody who..._wasn't_ a Regular...Johnny-cake is just so...so...different..but in a golden way..." A small grin appeared on Sondra's face as she thought about Johnny, talking to herself quietly about him, and she started feeling this strange tug on a certain part of her heart, but Sondra didn't know why.

The fourteen-year-old girl pulled out a cigarette then from one of her jean jackets pockets, and out of the other one, a lighter. Sondra stuck the end of her cancer-stick into the opposite end of her mouth and decided to stop walking so she could take a moment to smoke, which she claimed help her think things through a whole lot better, and she kicked back against one of these brick walls of a building, which Sondra thought was a Greaser store, which meant it contained cigarette packs of all kinds of different brands; and packs of beer. Sondra lit the opposite end of her cigarette before she stuffed her lighter away again, and she watched the end leak of the color of a bright and glowing orange, and the smell of ashes actually bugged her very much, but she just wanted a cigarette. Sondra rarely ever smoked, and nobody knew that she did except Charlie, Rebecca, and even Iris. She knew how to control it though. Sondra could simply turn down her craving for a smoke if it ever tempted her, meaning she only smoked just one every time she needed to think anything through very heavily, or she was scared; nervous; or worried about something.

Suddenly though, as Sondra continued just resting her back against the brick wall, taking in and letting out some puffs of gray smoke from her lips and blowing some perfect smoke rings up over her head, the fourteen-year-old Regular noticed that something was coming her way, rushing down the road like it was its job. Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow, her pale blue eyes twinkling like two dazzling stars, and she realized that they were these two golden-yellow lights, bright and lighting up the road as it bolted by. It took a minute for Sondra to place all of the puzzle pieces together for her to notice that...dang it! Dang it! That was all that Sondra could think to herself, as her face formed a scowl and she released some mumbles of curse words from her lips, continuing to hold her cigarette inbetween her middle and pointer fingers on her right hand. Headlights. It was a _Mustangs _headlights. _Socs_. Oh, crap.

Sondra didn't know what to do. She's never been jumped before in her whole life, and she's heard _a lot_ about how the Socs fought, whether it was with switchblades or just their fists and feet. Heck, it didn't matter how old you were to 'em either. They'd beat you up no matter what, until you were crying for mercy; completely black, blue, and purple and even bleeding nearly to death. Sondra's eyes narrowed at the dark red Mustang, feeling at least a tiny bit of relief from knowing that it wasn't those Socs who she saw stalking her and inside the bowling alley with the yellow Mustang. However, she was still scared, but she sure didn't show it. She just continued kicking back on the brick wall, smoking her cancer-stick and releasing some more gray puffs from her lips, acting like a simple bump on a log as the dark red Mustang parked instantly right in front of the sidewalk, and before she could see it coming with her own two eyes, four Socs, two males and two females, leaped out of the car.

Both of the boys were handsome, both looking like they were eighteen or so, and they had evil smirks plastered on their faces with their eyes filled up with deviousness. One boy had dark black hair and white skin, while the other boy had dark brown hair with dark purple highlights applied into its wind-blown style, and dark tan skin. They certainly did look like they were up to no good, and the male Soc with the dark tan skin was holding a plastic container of none other then beer. But the other two Socs, the two girls, looked only about sixteen, and they weren't smirking or showing any sign of evil or deviousness at all. Not one bit.

Both of the girls were beautiful, one of them having long red hair and white skin, and the other, who was a little shorter then the redhead, had short black hair and white skin as well. The two girls just gazed at each other from the dark red Mustangs back seat open doors that they both just stepped out of, their faces showing off how confused and innocent they were at that moment, unlike those two male Socs.

"Well, hello there Regular!" the handsome black-haired male Soc greeted with mocking laughter. Sondra instantly knew that he was addressing her, and she tossed her cigarette to the concrete, stepping on it with a simple small step of her foot to put its light out. Sondra kept her stren expression completely straight when gazing at the two male Socs, leaving the two female Socs out of it, considering that they weren't doing anything.

"What do _you _Socs want?! Shouldn't yawl be off this territory?!" Sondra asked, half annoyed/half upset.

"We might as well ask you the same question, Regular!" the good-looking brunette-haired Soc laughed as he reached into his boot with the speed of lightning and yanked out a switchblade. On the inside, Sondra's heart instantly started feeling like it was ticking as a terror bomb that would explode any moment, but on the outside, Sondra continued trying to stand her ground with her angry expression glued right on her face. The black-haired male Soc reached over and grabbed Sondra's arm with a hurtful; tight grip, but Sondra instantly yanked her arm free without any trouble at all, and her fear increased a bit inside, but her upset and stern look stayed right on her face.

"Lay off!" Sondra ordered, her voice exclaiming out her words in an angry tone.

"Okay, Regular, listen here..." the brunette-haird Soc snarled, flashing his blade under the moonlight so Sondra could see how sharp and pointy the deadly knife was sharpened and spiked. It then came to Sondra that she could die that very night, and everything became even worse when the black-haired male Soc pushed Sondra back against the brick wall again with a single hard push with one of his hands, and with that same hand, the male black-haired Soc cuffed it over Sondra's throat, only so she'd stay still and not attempt breaking away in a fast an rapid run.

"_Ross_..." the redhead female Soc finally spoke up, her tone sounding warning, and when Sondra witnessed the brunette-haired Soc gaze over his shoulder to look at the pretty redhead girl, the fourteen-year-old girl could tell that his name must've been Ross.

"Don't worry, Cherry," Ross chuckled, right before he started shining his switchblade a bit with his expensive jackets sleeve. "Chandler and I got this."

"No! You two don't!" the black-haired female Soc then blurted out, her voice rising with some impatient anger towards the two boys. "Chandler! Ross! Stop it! She's just a Regular! Let her go!"

"Aw, hush up, Marcia! Ross told you and Cherry that we have this!" Chandler exclaimed bitterly, taking one harsh glance over his shoulder at both of the Soc girls, which instantly frightened, but also angered, these two girls, whom were called Cherry and Marcia is what Sondra took in while still having herself pinned to the brick wall with Chandler's hand around her throat, and Ross's blade most likely so close to be coming down and slashing her to death.

"_Marcia? Cherry?_" Sondra asked herself in her head as she cocked an eyebrow for a couple of seconds, but then went back to clenching Chandler's wrist to get him to let go of his little rough pressure on her neck. Whoever these two female Socs were though, it just so happened to strike Sondra that they were trying to get these two boys, who's most likely their boyfriends, to stop getting ready to gang up on her. Sondra attempted shoving Chandler off of her, but it was no use. Sondra _was _strong, but Chandler was_ way_ stronger. Ross and Chandler both snickered at Sondra's attempts to get away, while Cherry and Marcia just looked at each other, exchanging their worried pounts and nervous eyes.

"Regular," Ross chuckled deviously, his eyes narrowed with was almost like the colors of a fire pit swarming its flames inside both of them. "We can do this the _easy _way...or the _hard _way."

"Just let me go! I was only taking a nighttime walk! I didn't do anything to you guys! You four shouldn't be on this side of town anyway!" Sondra growled, but Chandler and Ross growled right back at her afterwards, their eyes sharp and noises crinkled that time, making it seem like that they were _really _junk-yard dogs.

"Um, who's the highest class in this town? The Socs, the _Grease_-heads, or just some pathetic Regulars, Chan?" Ross asked with a smirk upon his face, his and Chandler's dark green eyes now meeting after Ross asked that question. An evil smirk instantly flashed across Chandler's face.

"Isn't it obvious?" Chandler snickered "the Socs! As known as, us and our girlfriends! So, we can go travel wherever we want during this time of night, Regular! _You_, on the other hand, _should _be back at your house and fast asleep!"

"Isn't it twime for your wittle bewtime, Regular?" Ross chuckled in a baby-like voice to mock the fourteen-year-old girl Regular, whom he was still holding back by pushing her back on the brick wall by her neck. Okay, those words had hurt, believe it or not, because when you're a Regular, pretty much every hurtful word that came out of either a Greaser or a Socs mouth, it desperately aggrivated the Regular to tears. But Sondra wasn't like that. She only cried when she was alone in her bedroom, away from her folks and little sister so Spring and/or Dominic would hurt her more with physical and verbal attacks, and because Sondra didn't like Iris to hear her cries. Not being the able to see the horror and terrible images was sort of a blessing, even though blindness was a curse (according to Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca), but Iris could still smell the horrible scent of ashes and tobacco enter the room, as the sound of loud stomps were made; followed by echoing smacks and punches; and wild snaps of a whipping leather belt.

"Sorry, I don't reason with trashy Socs with some fancy-lookin' clothes and a Mustang!" Sondra snarled, and without anything else needed to be said and/or done, the fourteen-year-old Regular shot out her leg and kicked Chandler in the shin..._hard! _Chandler let out a howl of pain, shocked at how strong a Regular could actually pack one heck of a single kick, but when Sondra didn't expect it to come, Chandler's rock-hard; red fist came flying at her, and it struck the right side of her mouth with one major sharp and stinging pain. Cherry and Marcia both gasped, their eyes now huge as they watched Sondra lay there on her side, weakly and tiredly pushing herself up from the concrete ground as she wiped a small amount of red liquid away from the way edge of her mouth from where Chandler punched her for revenge since she kicked him in the shin. However, just as Sondra was about to stand back up on her feet, Ross's free hand grabbed the back of her light blue-jeans jacket by its collar, and the brunette-haired Soc yanked Sondra back down, pushing her back down to the hard and cold concrete of the sidewalk, put this time, Sondra was laying there backside down.

That did it! Sondra couldn't hold back her fear any longer! Her eyes were now huge and sparking off every single part of terror that she had within her, which must've taken over her whole body, because she was continued laying there on the concrete, desperately wishing that she was back at Charlie's house with her blind kid sister and, of course, their two best and only friends, Rebecca and Charlie.

"_I'm dreaming...I'm dreaming...I MUST be dreaming!_" That was all that Sondra kept thinking to herself in her head as terrified tears began welding into her pale blue eyes, starting from their corners, and then coming down to flood down her cheeks, which were now bright red from so much fear, just like the rest of her face and even her ears were.

Sondra tried convincing herself in her mind that she had fell asleep or something on Charlie's couch in his family room, while the two older teenagers helped her kid sister read brail cards or continue on whatever her blind lesson that was that day, being extra quiet so they wouldn't disturb her. However, Sondra truly knew that she had snuck out the front door of Charlie's house without telling anyone where she was going, and there she was laying on the sidewalk in Greaser territory with Ross standing over her, his switchblade shimmering deadly in the moonlight as he glared down at her with full rage. Chandler stood a couple inches back, smirking deviously with full amusement at the scene as he rubbed his shin from where Sondra striked him, and then crossed his arms over his chest. Cherry and Marcia, on the other hand, stood back, keeping close to the dark red Mustang with complete shock and fear overwhelming their entire bodies, and showing it all off on their faces. They wanted to stop Chandler and Ross, but they knew that they couldn't, unless they wanted to take Sondra's place. Ross and Chandler were _not _the boyfriends you wanted to mess with!

Sondra could've sworn her life was flashing before her eyes, which were now red-rimmed from crying so much, and her whole body began to tremble, and it wasn't because of the chilly coldness that was dancing around the air that night. She was so, so afraid, and obviously anybody else in the whole wide world would be, too, if they were in her possision.

"I'll teach _you _for kicking my best friend, Regular!" Ross sourly exclaimed, and he swung his switchblade high up in the air. Sondra clenched her eyes shut, a cold sweat starting to form all over her body as she heard the sounds of Chandler's voice chuckling, meaning he was finding what was about to happen very amusing, and Sondra could also hear the sounds of Cherry's and Marcia's voices gasp together, and the two female Socs were now tightly holding each other close in a hug, as if they were acting for one of those movies for when the two best gal pals tightly clench each other when they're in a robbery or something. But this wasn't a movie, nor was Cherry and/or Marcia acting. This was reality, and the two of them might've been Socs, but they still weren't siked one bit to see a Regular possibly get murdered for no reason at all.

All Sondra could think at that moment was that she was going to die, and Charlie and Rebecca would painfully have to deal with the terrible news, and Iris would have to deal with Spring and Dominic abusing her only, which certainly snapped Sondra's heart, but just because Sondra could fight against a single Soc, _didn't _mean that she could take on two Socs that were many years older then her, and besides, Ross had a blade.

Just as Sondra throught that her life was about to end by a single stab to the heart or many stabs all over from Ross's switchblade...something happened.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" a teenaged male voice suddenly burst out with full rage, and when Sondra's eyes shot back open as her heart took one major pounce in her chest from knowing _exactly _who's voice that was...somebody had swung their arms around Ross's waist from his side and slammed him into the brick wall, causing Ross to instantly fall right onto his knees, and his switchblade fell right out of his pumping red, tightly clenched, right hand. Sondra quickly pushed herself up into a leaning back sitting position, her hands flat at her sides on the cold concrete with her fingers fully extended, and her watery eyes grew bigger after they met who was the one that had just saved her from getting stabbed. It was..._Johnathan Cade_! Johnny!

Man, Johnny looked angrier then ever, his face beating red and black eyes filled with rage as they stared at Chandler and Ross, who both shot their full; undivided attention at him and were instantly shocked at who they were looking at. No, they didn't know Johnny, but they _did _know that he was a Greaser by the way his jet-black hair was greased, and not to mention the way he was dressed in his worn out jeans, worn out tennis shoes, ordinary; dark-colored T-shirt, and his dark blue-jeans jacket.

"Johnny?!" Sondra gasped to herself in a soft whisper, her eyes filling up with even more fear from worrying if Johnny could get hurt, and since Ross had a blade, it was most likely what was going to happen. Sondra instantly wanted to get up and help Johnny, but she was too shocked and too scared to even move. Cherry and Marcia both quickly released each other after they instantly heard the sound of Johnny's voice, for the two of them both remembered that night at the movies when Dally, Ponyboy, Two-bit, and Johnny-cake all met them.

"Johnny Cade?!" Cherry asked herself in her mind, while Marcia just stared at the shocking scene, her beautiful eyes wider then ever, and her mouth now hanging open. They remembered how shy and quiet Johnny was when they first met him at the movies not long ago at all, but now, he was getting ready to get into a fight with their new boyfriends.

"Why you filfthy little-" Ross began exclaiming as he quickly leaped back up onto his feet and snatched up his switchblade from the concrete, quickly getting ready to attempt Johnny, but before he could get the chance to do so, Cherry had rushed into the fight and pushed Ross away, grabbing his switchblade right out of his hand and throwing it far, far away this time, and just as Chandler was about to try pounding Johnny, who was now down on his knees in front of Sondra and gazing right into her eyes as she looked right back into his, in, Marcia had rushed in and slammed Chandler across the face with her tightly clenched fist, and the ring that she was wearing on her finger had slit a part of Chandler's cheek open. Blood started dripping, and the cold breeze started to chill and sting at the open cut, making Chandler groan and mumble many curse words with a sour and bitter tone to himself. Without any hesitation, Chandler and Ross both instantly got ready to fight back with their girlfriends, instantly making Cherry and Marcia both bolt away down the street, meaning that they were done with those boys, and they'd properly talk to Johnny or the other Greasers around school, disguising themselves as Greasers themselves while doing so.

To Sondra, it seemed like Charlie and Rebecca both had super powers, because out of no where, here came the two of them bolting as fast as they could with angry expressions glued on their faces, and their eyes were filled with rage.

"SOCS! YOU - FREAKSHOWS BETTER - RUN!" Charlie cursed at the two male Socs, who instantly wiped their ticked off expressions and exchanged their new worried/scared looks for a quick second with each other, right before Ross quickly patted Chandler on the back a couple of times, then pushed him towards their dark red Mustang.

"Get in, man! Get in!" Ross ordered as he climbed into the drivers seat and yanked out his keys, just as when Chandler piled into the passengers seat and slammed his door shut, locking it afterwards. Charlie and Rebecca both stopped running when they reached opposite sides of the dark red Mustang. Charlie began punching Ross's window with hard, crushing blows of his fists, while Rebecca hollered and bucked, cursing and calling Ross and Chandler every word in the book, which Charlie joined in without any hesitation. Nervously, while Chandler hollered at him with fear in his voice, Ross tried finding the right key so he could start the car and quickly drive away before Charlie and/or Rebecca found their way into the Mustang themselves.

"Start the car! Start the car!" Chandler cried out fearfully, as if he was some little girl, and Ross stuck the right key into the keyhole after attempting to shakingly find it for fifteen seconds, his heart racing rapidly in his chest. Ross turned the key, which instantly made the dark red Mustangs headlights flash back on with their golden-yellow light, and the loud music from the radio switched back on to some of the Beatles old hits. The Mustangs engine roared, and Ross nervously clenched the wheel, his hands trembling and body completely sweaty from so much fear.

"COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT LIKE THE TRUE - MEN THAT YOU TWO - BELIEVE YOU - ARE!" Rebecca cussed, and Charlie howled cheers for her, while he continued to punch Ross's window with many strong plows with both of his fists now, not caring how much his knuckles were starting to turn red and how sore they were starting to become. "YOU MESS WITH OUR FRIENDS, YOU - MESS WITH CHARLIE AND MYSELF YOU - SOCS!" Rebecca went on, her words getting angrier and angrier with every word she shouted, and she 'accidentally' spit some saliva out of her mouth and onto the window that Chandler was close to. Rebecca then started to smack and bang at the window herself.

Johnny and Sondra were both shocked, just thinking about how Rebecca had slid over the top of the Mustangs hood and landed perfectly on her feet when she went to the opposite side of the high-class car, and not to mention how Charlie had grabbed Ross's throat from the slightly rolled down window the exact second Ross closed the door and locked it, but Charlie quickly took his arm back out whence he realized that Ross was starting to roll it up. Sondra and Johnny just continued sitting there on the sidewalk under the darkness of the nighttime, watching with such shock as Charlie and Rebecca both went on beating the hard glass windows and hollering out as many cuss words that they could think about at that moment.

"Drive, dude! Drive!" Chandler ordered Ross, but his command would've sound more convincing if he wasn't trembling to death and sounding like a frightened little girl, who was now sweating up a storm from so much fear, just like Ross was.

"I'M DRIVING! I'M DRIVING! SO STOP ACTING LIKE A LITTLE GIRL! I'M DRIVING THE DANG CAR!" Ross yelled, and right after he said that, he slammed his foot down and Charlie and Rebecca both quickly snatched up rocks, chucking them at the Mustang as it bolted down the street. While Charlie kept his eyes on the Mustang to make sure it was completely gone and out of sight, Rebecca trotted over to Sondra and Johnny, falling straight down onto her knees on purpose beside Sondra. Rebecca rested her arm on her knee as she breathed in and out deeply, witnessing her oxygen come out of her mouth from the chilly temperature.

"Baby, what the heck are you doing out here?! You shouldn't be..walkin' 'round town like this all by yourself..without telling me and/or Charlie you were..leaving!" Rebecca pointed out, pausing a bit with her speaking from taking in and letting out more deep breaths. Rebecca wasn't the one to ever get upset violently at any of her friends though, so she was sounding very concerned and protective more then ticked off and raged.

"...I'm sorry, but I didn't think you'd allow me to leave ever sense the fight I had today with that Soc on school grounds, and not to mention what happened yesterday at the bowling alley." Sondra mumbled as she ran her cold hands up and down her jean jackets fabric on her arms.

"You don't have a decent jacket on either for this time of night either," Charlie's voice then came in, a bit tiredly, and Johnny instantly felt his face heat up after Charlie had pointed that out, because Johnny knew it was the truth, but he was just so happening to be wearing the exact same jean jacket as Sondra, but only his was darker. Johnny nervously rolled his eyes around as he fiddled around with his fingernails, just gazing down at his crossed legs while doing so. Sondra and Rebecca, on the other hand, turned their heads over to Charlie to see him tiredly approaching them, his hands on his knees and back bent over, his dark hair also hanging in his face, but that made him look tougher then what he already was.

Charlie plopped himself down on the sidewalk next to Rebecca, and he placed one of his hands on Sondra's shoulders, examining her carefully, taking even second and third shots at it, being more and more careful with each glance he took. Charlie then gently touched Sondra's chin and tilted her head over a bit, his fingertips slightly tickling the fourteen-year-old girl as he carefully scraped with such a gentle touch around her cheeks and forehead, only doing that to make sure that she didn't have any blood dripping, secret cuts, or any bumps. Luckily, Sondra didn't, but she held her breath after shakingly and sharply taking it in when Charlie and Rebecca both noticed the small mark on the right edge of her lips from where Chandler punched her in the mouth.

"Eh, it's not that bad, Charlie." Rebecca pointed out, her voice sighing a bit as she gave Charlie a couple gentle pats on his shoulder.

"...Where's Iris?" Sondra suddenly piped up, hoping that she could change the subject with her new concern on where her little sister was, but she knew that it wouldn't work. You can't trick Charlie and/or Rebecca _that _easy...as a matter of fact...sometimes it's like you can't trick Rebecca and/or Charlie at all!

"She fell asleep," Rebecca explained as she gently stroked a piece of Sondra's shagged up, golden blonde hair behind her ear, then gave her a gentle, comforting pat on her back. "Charlie and I decided to allow her to sleep on the couch, and then the two of us just so happened to realize you were missing. Dang, Baby...we knew you were quiet, but not _this _quiet! Without any hesitation, and since Iris was fast asleep, Charlie and I decided to come searching for you."

"...And it's a good thing that you two did..." Johnny's voice then spoke up, shyly and nervously, only because he was coming into this conversation, and he didn't know if Rebecca, Charlie, and/or especially Sondra wanted him to be on it. Rebecca, Sondra, and Charlie all turned their attention to Johnny, who's face heated up like a bright, bright red flame instantly, because if there was one main thing the oldest Cade disliked, it was being the main center of attention, unless if it was for the Greasers gang and _only _the Greasers gang to hear. Johnny was still trying to get used to the fact that he was getting used to hanging out with Regulars.

"Johnny's right, Baby. If we didn't come along, you would've been long dead before we even arrived." Charlie told the fourteen-year-old girl, pointing his thumb at Rebecca, and then himself. Sondra pouted a little, and she gently touched the part of her mouth that now felt numb from Chandler's strong, nailing punch, stroking her own thumb around the new, small mark that she now had.

"...Yeah, I know...and I'm sorry..." Sondra sighed with a single shrug of her shoulders added in. Rebecca and Charlie then shrugged their shoulders right after she did so.

"Well, it's over now. Those Socs didn't hurt you too much, and they certainly ain't going to hurt you anymore." Charlie promised, and Rebecca nodded her head with absolute agreement. At that moment, Sondra took in the memories from not long ago at all, remembering the main reason she wasn't dead from Ross's switchblade...it wasn't because of Cherry...it wasn't because of Marcia...but it was because of...Johnny Cade.

"...Johnny saved me...he saved me from getting stabbed..." Sondra shared, her voice still quiet as she stood up from the concrete and placed her hands into her pockets to help them warm up at least a tiny bit. Charlie's and Rebecca's eyes grew big a slim bit as they exchanged their surprised looks, right before they both quickly leaped up from sitting on the sidewalk.

"Stabbed?!" Rebecca gasped, having a true time with having a hard time to actually believe that those Socs had attempted slitting a completely innocent fourteen-year-old girl just because she wasn't one of them. But neither Rebecca or Charlie had any speck of difficulty to actually believe that Johnny had rescued her.

Regretfully, Sondra nodded her head, and Charlie reached down his hand to Johnny, who nervously heated up again, but he shyly grinned a little as he took a hold of Charlie's offering hand, and the seventeen-year-old Regular pulled the sixteen-year-old Greaser up from the ground, giving him a couple of pats on the shoulder with his handsome, tuff smile plastered on his face afterwards.

"Johnny Cade, you're a hero! You saved Baby from being killed by Socs!" Rebecca cheered thrillingly and happily, as she held Sondra close to her and grinned her pretty, bright, golden smile at Johnny, which made him shyly blush a bit more.

"Shucks," Johnny quietly chuckled a bit, while he tucked one of his jet-black strands of hair behind his ear to keep it from hanging in his face like his long bangs were already. "She helped me and my kid sister yesterday in the bowling alley before you two came along and helped also. Same with Iris, too. I ain't lettin' some Socs hurt Baby. I mean, come on, she wasn't doing anything to deserve getting jumped and nearly killed."

"Gee, Johnny," Rebecca continued grinning. "Charlie, Baby, Iris, and myself has always pictured Greasers as-"

"Dark and evil hoods? Who got nothing to do but smoke cigarettes and drink beer 24/7? Heck, that's all just stereotypes. Greasers actually ain't that bad at all. We only fight for self-defense, unlike the Socs, who all do it for fun and whatnot, and the Greasers are actually very helpful to certain people." Johnny listed with his arms now crossed over his chest and one of his eyebrows cocked.

Embarrassedly, Charlie scratched the back of his head as Rebecca and Sondra exchanged their new facial expressions, which were now bright red and their lips being gently bit down on, because they were also feeling embarrassed from believing such things about Greasers when they never dared to get to know the Greasers gang in the first place themselves.

"Uh, yeah," Charlie sighed "sorry 'bout that. We really should've gotten to know you guys first. But now, we know that the Greasers aren't as bad as we thought."

"Nor do they even sound hardly as bad at all." Rebecca added onto Charlie's saying, and Charlie and Sondra both nodded their heads with full agreement, Sondra's being a whole lot more gentle and slow from being so shy and sensitive towards Johnny and thinking about all that he's been doing for her ever sense they first spotted each other eyes to eyes.

Johnny cracked another grin as he jammed his hands into his pockets. "As long as you don't get on Dallas Winston's or Darrel Curtis's bad sides, but Dallas Winston is the main concern."

"Oh, yeah," Rebecca nodded her head. "We heard about Dallas Winston, Johnny."

Charlie cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, taking in and digesting what Rebecca said informed the eldest Cade. "_Everyone _has heard about Dallas Winston at some point in their lives!" Charlie then pointed out, and even Johnny had to agree with that, because it _was _the truth. Seriously, Dally was on the news tons of times, in the newspaper, witnessed by other people committing his crimes or running away from the fuzz as they chased after him, or you'd just instantly know that he was hauled in.

"Johnny-cake, if you don't mind me by asking," Sondra shyly spoke up, earning the eldest Cade's and her two best friends full and undivided attention. "...Why were you walking out around town all by yourself? And why'd you help me?"

Johnny continued grinning as he shrugged his shoulders at Sondra's two questions. "I just wanted to catch some fresh air, so I decided to come out on a walk by myself, while the other Greasers babysit my sisters for me. And why'd I help you? Well...I didn't want to see you get hurt, that's all. You didn't deserve to get jumped. Seriously, being jumped is no joy. Trust me, I know and the rest of my gang knows, too."

"You've been jumped before, Johnny?!" Sondra asked, her voice sort of louder, but it was still soft out of her shock.

"Obviously!" Johnny groaned, and he rolled his eyes at the memories of how many times he was jumped and beat up by some no good Socs. "There was even this one time that blood was splatered all over my white T-shirt and this very jean jacket that I'm wearin' right now! My face was also cut up and it was extremely hard to tell who I was anymore."

Rebecca curled up her right hands pointer finger and placed it over her closed lips as she took in Johnny's terrible story. Charlie, on the other hand, placed her right hand on his left shoulder, and he settled his left hand on his right side, a sorrow expression now on his face from digesting Johnny's words. Lastly, Sondra thought about how she was abused, and secretly gulped as she shook a slim bit at just picturing Johnny not looking the same over cuts, bruises, bumps, and blood.

"Is that how you got your scar?" Charlie questioned, tacing one of his pointer fingers over the part of his own cheek where the small scar of Johnny's was located, just a little below his right eye. Johnny frowned a little, his hands remaining jammed in his pockets as he nodded his head.

"Yeah," Johnny sighed "the Soc had a couple of rings on...but he's been gone now for over a month, so at least he can no longer jump others for no reason at all. Anywho though, I should he headin' on back to the Curtis's house. I need to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Baby?"

Sondra's face flamed up to a bright, bright shade of red a bit as she nervously grinned a little, and she nodded her head a slim bit. "Yeah, um...I'll see you tomorrow at school, Johnny-cake..." Sondra approved as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear. Rebecca and Charlie both exchanged smirks as their eyes sparkled with a thinking look, and Johnny continued grinning at Sondra as he bowed his head, right before he said he'd see the three of them around, and Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca waved good-bye to him, keeping their eyes on the eldest Cade until he was out of sight. After he was, Sondra felt Rebecca place her hand on her shoulder and gently squeeze it in a caring way.

"He's a keeper." Rebecca chuckled, and Charlie instantly started laughing quietly along, giving Sondra a couple pats on the back while he was doing so. Sondra's face flushed bright, bright red again as her eyes slimly grew big, and she quickly shook her head at Rebecca and Charlie, who just simply smirked and rolled their eyes.

"They all say that 'bout their first crush..." Charlie muttered to himself under his breath, chuckling some more as Rebecca playfully rolled her eyes again at him, and Sondra just tried her best to tune their joking out.

"Alright, let's just get back to Charlie's place," Rebecca instructed the fourteen-year-old girl. "Charlie and I got to drop you and Iris back off at your place."

Sondra nervously took down a secret lump in her throat, remembering Dominic's and Spring's ceaseless fighting and arguing recently, and how they've been taking even more rage out on her and Iris then the amount they usually did. Sondra didn't want to go home, but she and Iris had no choice, so they _had _to go back to their house. So, Sondra nodded her head, then followed Rebecca and Charlie down the sidewalk, standing inbetween them and actually feeling at least a little bit safe since she was with them...but however...she didn't know what was going to happen to her and/or Iris when they arrived home...or what could possibly happen the next day...

**A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuunnn! Cliffhanger! Not much else to say here unless it's _please review _and I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	7. A Ride to School and some Tutoring Talk

**A/N: Hey, yo, hi, everybody! Thank you for the reviews and favorites, and enjoy chapter 7, which I couldn't have done without the help of one of my greatest friends, Savannah, and my other friends in the gang, thanks to booklover450 who introduced me to all of them! You guys are certainly golden and I don't know what'd I'd do without such tuff friends! Please review! Thank you all! :D**

_Chapter 7_

Who knew how the days and nights could go by faster and faster with every moment that passes. It seemed like to Sondra that the days were passing extremely faster, but at the same time, it wasn't going fast enough. The fourteen-year-old girl seriously wished that hers and her little sisters folks would just back down on each others cases, arguing and bickering back and forth for a long while now, and that just made Spring and Dominic a whole lot more abusive. All Sondra wanted was for Dominic and Spring to stop fighting a whole lot lately, because they've never treated each other like that ever before, but however, there was a first time for everything. When Charlie and Rebecca walked Sondra and Iris back to their house the night before, all Sondra was thinking was hopefully Spring and Dominic were no longer fighting, then maybe only she and Iris would only get two instead of nine or so beatings that night.

However...it didn't end up that way the night before...Dominic had beaten the heck out of Sondra, who took extra beatings and whippings in order to protect Iris from getting a single slap. Man, by the time Dominic was finished ganging up on his and Spring's first child...all Sondra did was lay there on her bedroom floor in her pajamas, rolled up in a ball while she laid there on her side, feeling completely sore as she cried and cried...until she literally cried herself to sleep right there on her bedroom floor.

Nevertheless, it was now the next fall morning of September, and the sun was shining brightly in the shimmering blue sky with a few fluffy clouds swifting around in the cool breeze that was whistling all around, blowing the colorful leaves all around on the concrete of the sidewalks and road, along with the green grass.

Sondra remembered as she painfully pushed herself up from her bedroom floor after getting beaten to death the night before that Charlie had called her house, and Spring had answered the phone, her voice slimly full of painful rage and some tears after Dominic had smacked her across the face, but after she realized that it was Charlie's handsome and tuff voice over the other side of the line, she quickly started talking sweetly and kindly, asking him what he needed and what was going on. Charlie explained that everything was going fine, but then informed Spring that the only reason he was calling was because he wanted somebody to tell Sondra, calling her 'Baby' like he usually would at that time, that he was going to start coming by to pick her up for school and sometimes drive her back in his SUV.

Sondra gazed at her apperance in her mirror, her golden blond hair remaining completely shagged up, and her very light tan skin covered with some new bruises. Sondra's pale blue eyes narrowed with sorrow as she slightly sniffled a little bit, but she held the tears back as she carefully removed her pajamas, stripping them from her sore and still sort of numb body. The poor fourteen-year-old clenched her pale blue eyes in a painful way as she let out some small moans and groans from her lips, considering that her legs, arms, neck, and even her face were the main areas where she was beaten. At least she wasn't in any major, hospital-needing pain. Just some bruises, Sondra thought to herself yet again, and she covered the small amount of black; purple; and blue marks from upon her face with some of her skin-toned powder, so the bruises would remain hidden.

The only thought that got Sondra through changing into her pink hoodie, old; worn out; light blue jeans, and her old; worn out; red tennis shoes, was none other then Johnny Cade, whom Sondra remembered would be tutoring her in math sometime. Just remembering the sharp; pointy blade that, that Soc named Ross was swinging the night before really made Sondra shutter as she fixed on her black leather belt, but when Johnny swung right into her thoughts from when he tackled Ross straight into the wall and saving her from being stabbed...Sondra didn't know what to think. All she understood was that her face was sort of brighting up like a bright red Christmas bulb, and the fact that she was still alive.

Sondra snatched up her book bag, then she left her bedroom and helded Iris get dressed, fixing her up into a knee-length; sleeveless; white dress that had apples designed on its fabric, and a pair of her black boots. After that Sondra sat Iris down and fetched her pink and white cane from beside her now made bed, right before Sondra fetched up Iris's brush and started gently brushing her long; silky; beautiful; shiny hair, being extra careful when tugging the knots and tangles out, and lastly, Sondra tied Iris's hair up in a pretty ponytail.

However, deep inside, Sondra kept questioning about Iris's outfit, because she didn't like that the light black; blue; and purple blotches on her arms and legs were completely easy to catch sight of, but at least her black boots covered most of the marks on her legs, and Sondra was thankful to convince Iris to wear her matching white sweater to cover the terrible bruises on her arms.

"You ready for another day of learning from Charlie and Rebecca, Iris?" Sondra asked her little sister as she held her hand, guiding her out the front door and onto the front porch of their house. Quickly before the door could slam shut though, Sondra caught it because she knew if the door _ever _slammed shut behind anybody, especially her and/or Iris, it _wouldn't_ be pretty _at all _whence they arrived back home later that afternoon. Spring and Dominic didn't dare to say anything to their daughters, considering that they didn't give a crap what they were doing or where they were going 24/7. Besides, Dominic was too busy being drunk and past out on the couch for the billionth time in his life, and Spring was looking terrible as ever, the black circles around her eyes darker, and her skin upon her cheeks were a light shade of purple, meaning that she had just got done taking more drugs and she was high.

"Yes, Baby...I'm ready..." Iris then nodded her head to answer her older sisters question, while she continued holding tightly onto Sondra's hand, and she stepped down the two steps of their porch. It seemed like one of those movies were then playing at that moment according to Sondra, because right at that moment, here came Charlie's SUV with none other then Charlie driving, and the music rocking out at a right level for that early in the morning. But the window to the backseat of Charlie's SUV was rolled down, and there leaning in the window was another teenage boy, who Sondra and Iris both actually knew. He was actually another one of their friends, and he had white skin, sparkly green eyes, ash-black hair, and one heck of a handsome smile plastered widely on his face.

"YO, YO, YO, PRESCOTT GIRLS! OH! OH! PARTY! PARTY! WAHOO!" the teenaged boy cheered, howling out his handsome laughter as his eyes shimmered with cuteness, and he clapped his hands over and over again, as if Sondra and Iris were super-models or stars or something famous like that. Charlie rolled his eyes as he stopped the car in front of Sondra's and Iris's house. Sondra placed one of her hands on one of her hips and grinned, playfully rolling her eyes herself at the scene, while Iris continued just staring with that usual blank expression on hers from her blindness and slight brain damage.

"Yikes.." Charlie muttered under his breath to himself as he rolled his eyes again, thinking how crazy that boy in the backseat of his SUV was acting, hollering and cheering out the window like that, that early in the morning. Man, all Charlie was thinking that he was hoping that nobody who was still fast asleep in the neighborhood would wake up and call the cops, because Charlie was positive that being labeled with the name 'Jim Willis' would work a second time on them. Charlie honestly couldn't believe that it worked the first time!

"Hey, you two! Don't leave me hangin' here!" the teenaged boy then chuckled at the two girls, pretending that he didn't hear Charlie mumble that single word, and he didn't need to see Charlie to know that he had rolled his eyes at his behavior, but that teenaged boy couldn't care less. Sondra playfully rolled her eyes again as the teenaged boy smiled his big; handsome; but yet goofy grin at her and Iris as he opened up the backseats door, then hopped out until his feet were now touching the grass. Man, was this boy tall and lean, and also very tough looking.

"Hey to you, too, Peter." Sondra chuckled at just the thought of remembering all the hilarious things that Peter just said in less then five minutes to already brighten up hers and Iris's moods. "How've you been? You and Maddy still goin' out?"

"You know it!" Peter laughed with a single clap of his hands added in. "And we're very happily going out on more dates, if you must know!"

"Well, it's good to know, Peter-pie." Sondra bowed her head, and then she led Iris over to the backseat of Charlie's SUV, which is when Peter flashed his handsome smile down to the seven-year-old blind girl, while he tried to flush away the sudden embarrassment from Sondra using the silly pet-name that the gang had picked out for him when they were all just little children.

"Hiya there, little Prescott! How you doin' today?" Peter asked as he gave one little and playful tap of one of his pointer fingers on Iris's nose, which instantly made the youngest Prescott grow her adorable smile as she released some of her cute giggles through her happily clenched; sparkly; white teeth. She certainly did adore when people did that to her. It made her actually feel safe and cared about.

"...Tired..." Iris then yawned, needing the time to hesitate from her stupid brain damage.

"Really?" Peter asked. Iris instantly nodded her head, not needing to hesitate for a single moment after hearing _that _question, and she rubbed her grayish-whitish eyes with her clenched fists, while she released some small' tired moans and groans from her lips. Peter then smiled widely again, letting out some chuckles. "Well, that makes two of us!" Peter joked, even though he was telling the truth though. He truly was tired to death, but he certainly didn't look like it, nor did he ever hardly act like it.

"Peter!" Charlie then exclaimed, still remaining where he was behind the wheel of his SUV as he looked up in the mirror to see Peter, Sondra, and a little bit of Iris in its reflection.

"What is it, dude?" Peter questioned, gazing over his shoulder so he could see one of his best friends since childhood.

"Get back in the car! We need to get Baby to school, then I need to get back to my place to help Rebecca teach Iris more about writing and reading!" Charlie bellowed, and he was only raising his voice a little bit to prove to Peter that he meant buisness, and since Peter was the joker in their gang, he hardly ever took things seriously, so that's another reason people raised their voices at him once in awhile.

"Aw, Charlie-arlie! You worry too much!" Peter chuckled, using Charlie's old kiddie nickname from their childhood, just like Sondra used his when saying it was good to know about him and his girlfriend Maddy.

"Peter, get in the dang car already!" Charlie ordered.

Peter stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets, taking time to digest Charlie's command. "You need a hug, buddy." Peter pointed out, and he instantly recieved a small glare from Charlie's eyes in the reflection of his SUV's mirror. Without anymore words needed to be spoken, Peter held his hands up to his shoulders in defeat, his eyes still laughing like usual though, and he turned back around, taking Iris's pink and white cane from Sondra and settling it in the backseat of Charlie's SUV. While Peter then lifted Iris up caringly and carefully from around her waist, as if she was a toddler or infant instead of a seven-year-old child, and he started helping her get buckled up, Sondra climbed into the passengers seat and buckled up herself, settling her backpack down by her legs on the floor, and she patiently waited. At least if Peter took awhile, she'd have less time to spend in that torture hole that others call school. On the bright side though, it was a whole lot better then being abused at home.

"Say, Peter," Sondra said finally after Peter had finished buckling Iris and himself up in the backseat, and Charlie had began driving again, leaving the front of Sondra's and Iris's house behind them, and now entering Greaser territory, considering that the high school was on that part of town.

"Yeah, Baby?" Peter, who was now kicking back and relaxing with his hands behind his head and his big; handsome; but yet goofy grin plastered on his face, asked.

"Shouldn't _you _be at school right now?" Sondra shrugged her shoulders, and Peter let out a laugh, as he closed his eyes to just rest them a bit. Heck, Iris was already out again like a light, and she was just lucky that she really didn't need to go to school, but the reason that she didn't have to go much was heartbreaking...since she was blind, she couldn't draw, write, read, or do any of the things that kids in her grade were supposed to do.

"I'm ditchin' today! Good 'ol Charlie here and Becky are both being so generous into letting me look in on their lessons with little Iris today." Peter explained.

"Oh, I see." Sondra understood, nodding her head. But she realized Charlie roll his eyes after he heard all that Peter just said. Yes, Charlie and Peter are both best friends, but hey, even best friends get annoyed with each other once in awhile. And at that moment, it was obvious that Charlie was getting annoyed with Peter.

"Translation: 'I'm ditching school today because I have this math test and I don't want to take the darn thing. And I didn't study one bit.'." Charlie explained for Sondra, keeping his eyes on the other Mustangs, SUV's, and just other cars in general drive around through his windshield as he drove his own SUV, pretending to be Peter speaking. Peter opened his eyes again and slimly narrowed them after hearing Charlie tell Sondra, who was now quietly giggling a bit, about why he ditched school in the first place.

"It was a _science _test I blew off!" Peter corrected, grumbling his words through his slightly clenched teeth. But Charlie only rolled his eyes again. Still though, the two of them were as close as two peas in a pod.

"Whatever, Peter-pie. Either way, your butts ditchin' school today." Charlie muttered under his breath, but Peter could still hear him. Sondra could, too. Nevertheless, Peter couldn't object with any words there, because he knew that it was the truth. "Anyway, Baby. We need to talk about something that's pretty important."

Sondra tensed up a bit, her eyes slightly growing big as they gazed out the window and stared at the changing scenery from Charlie's driving. "Really?" Sondra asked, hesitating with her question only by a couple of seconds. When Sondra didn't get a verbal response of any kind, she knew two things for sure: Charlie had nodded his head, and Peter was now listening to the coversation. "What's the problem?" Sondra then questioned, after she took down a secret gulp to clear the baseball-sized lump in her throat.

"Well, it has recently occured to me that you've been saying that your many injuries of these bruises, scratches, and slash marks have been coming from when you were riding on your bike. You remember that, right?" Charlie asked, taking one quick glance over at the oldest Prescott before he quickly snapped his attention straight back on the road.

"...Yeah. Why?" Sondra asked.

"I didn't know that you had a bike, Baby." Peter shrugged his shoulders, and Sondra rubbed her eyes with her middle finger and thumb, secretly rolling them after hearing Peter say that, desperately wishing on the inside that he hadn't, because Charlie and Rebecca were both already suspicious enough.

"That's the thing, Peter. She actually doesn't have a bike, which is why this chat is important." Charlie explained.

Sondra's eyes grew big a bit again, and she continued gazing out the glass of her window, knowing for a pure fact that she was busted with the whole bike riding injuries thing. Thank God that Iris was fast asleep though, otherwise she'd have to hear this whole conversation.

"Why were you lying to Rebecca and I about your injuries, Baby? Seriously, this ain't a joking matter!" Charlie pointed out, and Sondra wanted to flinch at the sound of his voice rising only a little bit, but she held it back and got control of herself before she could tremble one bit.

"Who says I'm actually _trying _to joke around, Charlie?" Sondra asked, keeping her eyes directly out the window, because she didn't want to face one of her best and only friends when lying to him yet again, and to just make the moment worse, Peter was in the car with them, and he was one of Sondra's and Iris's best friends as well. Just as Charlie opened his mouth to say something else back, Peter's voice piped up.

"Charlie-arlie has a point, Baby. I mean, I got to admit that I'm getting very concerned about these strange injuries of yours, and I'm also thinking heavily about Iris's, too." Peter shared.

"_Thanks a lot, Peter...that helps a lot..._" Sondra sarcastically spoke in her head, not daring to say the words out loud and risk getting caught mumbling them.

"Care to tell us more about this, Baby?" Charlie asked.

Sondra shook her head, not needing a single moment to think that question through, and you couldn't blame her, because abuse was a very terrifying topic to just think about.

"Charlie, Peter," Sondra stated "I'm flattered that you two care about me and Iris, but-"

"Of course we care about you two! You're our friends here!" Peter interrupted. At least that helped the eldest Prescott grow a small, pretty grin across her face as she went on with what she wanted to say.

"I promise you both that these injuries are nothing. Seriously, the worse thing I can get at my age is a broken heart. Why do you guys think I don't date?" Sondra asked, and she couldn't help herself to roll her eyes at just the simple thought of her actually going out on a date with somebody.

"Baby, this chat isn't about playing 'match-maker' or anything like that! This is important! Peter, Rebecca, the rest of the gang, and myself need to know how you and Iris are getting these injuries!" Charlie demanded, but he was trying his best not to lose his temper or holler at Sondra, considering that Charlie was _always _cautious to be on his best behavior with his friends and other people he loved, like his parents.

"It's nothing important, Charlie! Don't worry 'bout it, okay?! Besides, you always told me and Iris no matter how many painful injuries we go through, to just continue on with your life, considering things are going to hurt every now and then...and when you fall...just get back up again." Sondra lectured, and Charlie immidately froze up after hearing those words come out of the oldest Prescott's mouth.

"In my defense...I didn't think you'd actually remember that." Charlie muttered, thinking that only he'd hear his own words, but he was proved wrong when he heard Peter laugh, trying his best to keep it down so he wouldn't wake Iris up, and Sondra grinned a little again, and she rolled her eyes in a playful way.

"Well, I just so happen to remember it, Charlie-arlie...and if I may...why don't you date anybody?" Sondra asked. Since she had brought up Charlie's lesson about when you fall to just get back up again all through your life, Sondra thought it would've been the perfect time to change the topic about her and Iris's injuries, and she'd also get to ask Charlie the main question that she's been holding in for years now.

Peter grew an amused grin after hearing Sondra's new question, as if he wasn't ever concerned about her and Iris's mysterious injuries, and Charlie's eyes grew big a bit as his face flushed bright red.

"What?" Charlie asked, sort of chuckling some small; phony laughs as he tried his best to smile a fake grin, but he was so caught up in being taken off guard with Sondra's question that he just couldn't pull it off. Wow, _that_ was one heck of a change. Sondra grinned again as she chuckled a bit at how Charlie was suddenly acting after she asked that question.

"You said so yourself before, Charlie, that everybody grows up and lives their lives with getting married in the future and having your own children and whatnot. But how can you do that if you won't date anybody? Why won't you date any special girl, Charlie?" Sondra asked.

Charlie opened his mouth to hesitantly answer the oldest Prescott's question, but before he got the chance to speak out, Peter laughed the words, "He's dating his football from his football practice!"

"Hush it, Peter! Or I'll just pull over and kick your butt right out of the car to leave you to hitch-hike back to my place!" Charlie threatened. Peter innocently held his hands up to his shoulders in a defending way as he laid back in his chair again, his eyes still glimmering off laughter while his smile remained handsome and straight on his face, which made Charlie roll his eyes. Thank God that they came to a stop sign, because Charlie really needed a break, and when he stopped his SUV behind some other cars, he rubbed his hands up his face, and then up through his dark hair. Charlie then released a deep breath, and he looked over at Sondra, who was still grinning at him.

"Look, Baby, I'm just not the type of guy who loves to go out with anyone or have that 'special someone' yet." Charlie informed "but hey, I'm only seventeen. I'm still young, with my whole life ahead of me."

"Oh, please! It's obvious that you have a crush on Rebecca! I've known about it ever since the first day I met you two!" Sondra giggled. Right after hearing those words, Charlie's eyes grew bigger as his cheeks stained with the color of a bright, bright pink, and he thought about Rebecca, who was most likely still fast asleep on the couch at his place.

"Peter?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, buddy?" Peter smirked.

"...You told her I had feelings for Becky, didn't you?"

"...Yeah, I tell everyone. That's how I break the ice in a conversation!"

Charlie smacked one of his hands straight onto his face as he listened to Peter and Sondra snicker and chuckle together. Charlie rolled his eyes.

"Well, I _don't_, which means I _do not_, have feelings for Rebecca! We're just friends!" Charlie objected "and besides, I'm not the dating type. I'm more of the super sexy, football star type."

Peter grinned and rolled his eyes after he fully digested what Charlie just said. "Oh come on, dude! It's obvious that you and Rebecca are made for each other! Seriously, you've been friends since the beginning!" he laughed, still trying to keep quiet so he wouldn't wake Iris up, and he was surprisingly doing a good job at that.

"I will end you, Peter!" Charlie warned, but Peter wasn't the one to ever take anybody's threats seriously, whether they were real or just jokes.

"Charlie and Rebecca sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Peter began singing, and Charlie just so happened to begin driving while he attempted to tune out Peter's singing and Sondra's chuckling, but he just couldn't do that so well.

"_Man, making Peter hitch-hike seems really tempting to me at this moment...well...nah...he's lucky he's just one of my best friends...but if he keeps singing, I'm going to give him one heck of a shiner!_" Charlie thought to himself as he kept his eyes directly on the road.

"Face it, Charlie," Sondra giggled "you are in love with Rebecca!"

"Oh, please!" Charlie exclaimed, but not in any way of being harsh or rude one bit. He was only raising his voice a little to get his point through. "I am _not _in love with Becky! Seriously, I'm seventeen and she's sixteen! Baby, you're fourteen here! You don't know what love is yet..._I _don't even know what love is yet!" Charlie lectured.

Quietness filled the car for about five seconds after Charlie spoke all of that, Sondra just looking at him and thinking heavily about what he just said, but Peter was kicking back with a handsome smirk plastered on his face yet again.

"Well, that explains a lot." Peter snickered. Charlie narrowed his eyes, scowling a bit at Peter in the mirror before he glanced back at the road and went back to focusing on his driving.

"You're not _helping_, Peter!" Charlie growled through his now slightly clenched teeth.

"Who says I was trying to help you, Charlie-arlie?" Peter chuckled. That only made Charlie's scowl grow angrier a bit, but Peter was just joking...then again...there really isn't a single moment in life that Peter knocks of his fooling around and joking.

"Screw you.." Charlie mumbled to Peter, who just chuckled some more after hearing one of his best pals say that to him. He's been told _way _worse by Socs.

"I love you, too, man!" Peter exclaimed with a phony crying voice, as he placed one of his hands over his heart and used his other hand to wipe away a single; phony tear. "We're best friends till the end!"

Charlie annoyingly rolled his eyes once again, but at the same time, he was doing it playfully because he truly knew that this was _Peter's _behavior that he was reasoning with. Suddenly, a smirk formed on Charlie's face, and Peter's eyes instantly grew big a little as he backed down, slumping and sliding as far down in his seat with his seatbelt around him as far as he possibly could.

"Alright, I'm done!" Peter gulped.

"I'm not concerntrating on you, egg-head!" Charlie pointed out, but he was chuckling and snickering while he was speaking, and he wasn't sounding threatening or upset at Peter for a change.

"Oh," Peter's grin instantly flashed across his face again as he prompted himself back up into his seat and kicked back all over again. "Well, that's a new one!"

"Baby?" Charlie stated, as if he didn't hear Peter say that fact when he truly did. Sondra's eyes slimly grew big again as her smile vanished right off of her face, knowing now that if Charlie wasn't focusing on Peter, and Iris was sleeping so she couldn't have been the reason why he was smirking, Sondra understood that Charlie must've been concerntrating on her all over again, but this time wasn't on hers and Iris's strange injuries.

"...Yes, Charlie?" Sondra hesitantly asked with full caution now competely overwhelming her voice, and Charlie snickered some more, while Peter looked back and forth from Sondra to Charlie, waiting for somebody to say something new. Man, it was as if he was completely zoned out on a movie. He was even pretending to eat popcorn!

"Baby, you're too busy with worrying about where you'll go and who you'll be in the future when you don't even consider enjoying being a fourteen-year-old. Seriously, I wish I could go back to those years as a younger teen." Charlie shared, but Sondra didn't really understand what he was getting at, and not to mention why he was chuckling.

"Oh, yeah," Peter snickered "I remember when I was fourteen...yep, I snuck out of my bedroom window...crashed wild Soc parties...broke the windows of my school on 'accident' with some rocks...I climbed over fences nearly what felt like 24/7 to avoid Maddy's dad when I snuck over to her place...yeah...those were the days."

Sondra confusedly cocked an eyebrow as Charlie shot some serious eyes off at Peter in the mirror again.

"What are you doing, Peter?! I'm trying to convince her to _enjoy _being fourteen here!" Charlie exclaimed at the teenaged boy in the backseat of his SUV, immidately shooting his eyes back on the road as he drove.

"You're sayin' that like my year as a fourteen-year-old wasn't so good, Charlie-arlie." Peter smirked, and Charlie rolled his eyes.

"I actually _am _saying that!" Charlie informed "now quiet back there, you!"

Peter simply shrugged his shoulders and continued grinning, as he pretended to do that thing where you lock your mouth shut and throw away the key. Charlie then grinned a little again as he peaked a little over at Sondra, who was now gazing right out the windshield with her eyes still big a bit, and Charlie could tell that she was nervous. Peter could, too, but he decided to do what Charlie told him to do, which was keep his mouth shut.

"Baby, all I'm saying is..you shouldn't worry about what job you're going to get, nor who you'll marry or how many kids you'll have yet. You're only fourteen. You should be having a great time with being that young and fresh..thing." Charlie stammered a bit with his own wordplay from wondering to himself if that even made sense. It must've because Sondra shook her head, a pout tugging at her lips.

"You know something, Charlie? You, too, back there, Peter," Sondra instructed, her voice sighing with her words from thinking about what was now on her mind. "It shouldn't matter who I'm getting married with or how many children I have in the furture to me right now, and you're right about that, Charlie...but to get married...I have to be in love."

"Yeah, and if you need to win a rap battle, you need to have me in it. What's your point?" Peter innocently asked.

"_Peter..._" Charlie warned.

"I'm just asking!" Peter shot his hands up to his shoulders in that defending way again, and to nobody's surprise, Charlie rolled his eyes at him, but that was normal when Peter was around. He was certainly a great friend to have though, Sondra thought to herself, just like Rebecca and Charlie both were.

"What exactly _do _you mean, Baby? About love and all of that? I just said that neither you or myself, and not even Peter-pie back there, knows a thing or two about love yet." Charlie stated.

Peter opened his mouth to object, but he knew if he did, Charlie would just warn him to keep quiet, so Peter just closed his mouth and listened instead of chatting himself anymore.

"Charlie, you're seventeen, and Peter is sixteen, just like Rebecca is. I'm pretty sure you guys know what love is by now, considering that Peter is dating Maddy, and you're obviously in love with Rebecca, Charlie. However, I'm just a fourteen-year-old girl who doesn't know a single thing about having feelings for any boy. I'm saying if I ever wanted to get married and have my own children in the future, I'd be in love with whoever it is that married me...but...I don't think I'll ever find love." Sondra explained, and every time she said the words 'married', 'children', and 'love', she cringed a little bit more and more.

"Baby, you're fourteen...it's pretty obvious that you won't fall in love yet." Charlie pointed out.

"Well...actually, Maddy and I started dating-" Peter began, but when he realized Charlie's eyes glaring off at him once again, Peter quickly said, "And I'm going to shut up now."

"Good choice." Charlie nodded his head with full approvement, right before he formed a smirk across his face again. "Anyway, Baby, how about Johnnycake?"

Sondra's eyes shot huge as she began feeling the skin upon her face heat up. "..What about him?"

Charlie snickered, while Peter went back to gazing back and forth from Charlie to Sondra, acting like he was eating popcorn in a very good movie again.

"Well, you seem very different around him, Baby. It's almost like, you're a whole new different type of Regular." Charlie informed.

Sondra placed her hands on the opposites shoulders as she shrugged them, her face heating up more and more with every second that past. "Is that possibly because we're now friends with Greasers?"

Peter's eyes shot huge after he took in and digested those words that just came out of Sondra's mouth, and he instantly shot up into a sitting position, his body now completely filled with tense feelings for what felt like the first time ever in his whole life.

"Whoa, whoa, what?! You guys are friends with _Greasers _now?! How much did I miss when I was out of the state with my folks?!" Peter asked.

"Oh, please! You miss a lot when you're even in Tulsa with us, Peter!" Charlie pointed out. "And, yes, we're friends with Greasers now. They're not actually dark and evil hoods like we thought they were. They're actually pretty tuff."

"...What does 'tuff' even mean?" Sondra asked.

Charlie shook his head, biting down on his lip while doing so. "No idea. I just heard some of the Greasers around the street use it in a good or so meaning."

"...Hey, speaking of whatever this word 'tuff' means, Johnny asked me if I 'digged' or 'dug' something." Sondra shared.

Peter confusedly cocked an eyebrow as Charlie's eyes grew big with confusion, still keeping them directly on the road as he drove his SUV, keeping his hands tightly on the wheel.

"If you 'dug' something? What were you two doing? Gardening?" Peter asked, but surprisingly, he wasn't joking around or sounding sarcastic in anyway, nor did Charlie even dare to say something smart back, considering that he had no clue what that truly meant. Sure, Charlie and Sondra have heard Rebecca use those terms, but they just knew that she had no idea what they meant either.

Sondra shook her head at Peter's question. "No, he was helping me pick up my books after I dropped them."

Charlie formed one of his adorable smirks again as he opened his mouth to say something, but Sondra quickly spoke up by saying, "He found my book report on _Gone With the Wind _and he informed me tha he adored the book just like I did."

"It's his favorite book, too?" Peter asked.

"Yep, it sure seems like that." Sondra nodded her head as Charlie finally turned his way into the school along with some other cars in front of his while others followed.

"Well, it's just another great thing the two of you have in common! So what if he's a Greaser and you're a Regular, Baby! Make a move already!" Charlie laughed, and Sondra's face instantly turned dark red from thinking heavily about the oldest Cade now.

"Oh, quiet, Charlie! And you can stop here. I might be walking over to the DX station after school today, and then I have to meet up with Johnnycake." Sondra informed.

"What? A date?" Charlie snickered, finally stopping his SUV in the front of the high school.

"No! He's tutoring me in math!" Sondra moaned, and without another word, she unbuckled her seatbelt, opened up her door, snatched up her book bag, then jumped out of the car, telling Charlie and Peter both good-bye before she closed the door and made her way to the front glass doors of the school, her backpack now swung over her shoulder like usual, and an uncomfortable glance on her face.

The exact moment Sondra entered through the front door, she had been greeted by many Socs letting out gasps, and when Sondra glanced around nervously and hesitantly at them, they were all glaring at her with pure anger in their eyes and darkness seeming to surround all of them, no matter how good and nice they all looked. Sondra adjusted the strap of her backpack better up on her shoulder as she took down a gulp in her throat, then slowly continued her way down the hall, trying her best to ignore the harsh snickers and rude words that were getting whispered about her, and mainly for two reasons. One, she was a Regular, and two, she was now known as the Regular that beat Joey the Soc up the afternoon before, but Sondra couldn't help herself. Joey got to her.

First period went by too slow according to Sondra, and she was asoluetly thankful when she heard the final bell of first period ring off its jingle, meaning that it was now officially time for second period. Sondra clenched her books tightly against her stomach as she watched her old; worn out; red tennis shoes go back and forth on her feet as she walked down the hallway. She paused there in the doorway that entered her math class, and she saw all of the other students already in their seats, even Joey, and Mrs. Williams was writing some warm-up problems on the board that referred back to yesterdays lesson.

Sondra watched, thinking to herself that she was just surprised that she wasn't late for a change, and when she realized that Joey was now glaring at her from their table, one of his eyes now being surrounded by a shimmering circle of black, Sondra scowled right back at him, until he finally glared down at his homework. Sondra then continued gazing around the room, and that's when she realized that Johnny was peaking over at her, smiling, Sondra couldn't help herself to smile shyly right back, as her face heated up a bit, and she tucked a piece of her shagged up; golden blond hair behind her ear.

Johnny's sparkling white teeth then showed from his smile growing bigger, and Sondra pulled out her chair of her and Joey's table, right before she sat herself down and settled in, getting out her homework, math notebook, and two sharpened pencils.

"...Broadly Regular..." Joey muttered as he brushed his hair with his hand, just like he did the day before.

Sondra crossed her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes, feeling some pain form in her heart after hearing Joey murmur that, but that didn't stop Sondra from softly speaking the words under her breath, "...Trashy Soc..."

"Alright, class!" came Mrs. Williams's voice, and everybody instantly shut their mouths and turned their full; undivided attention over to their teacher in the front of the classroom. "Before we begin any work today, I'd like Miss Prescott and Mr. Cade to please rise from their seats and come to the front of the class."

Sondra's face heated up as Johnny's eyes slimly grew big, and the two of them secretly took down small gulps as they stood up from their chairs, everybody now watching them fully. Johnny stuffed his hands in his jean jackets pockets while Sondra placed hers into her worn out jeans pockets, and the two of them stood on opposite sides of Mrs. Williams, as they both slimly gazed at each other and shyly smiled a little bit. Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit exchanged amused and satisfied smirks, and all three of them were thinking that they couldn't wait to tell Kitten this.

"Now, everyone, as you all may or may not understand, every student has difficult times in certain subjects, and Miss Prescott here just so happens to be struggling in here with math. Anyway though, Mr. Cade here is going to help tutor her in this subject, so if I hear any of you mocking Miss Prescott for her grade in here, you'll be instantly sent down to the office and you'll earn a _long _talk." Mrs. Williams instructed. Johnny's face flushed with the bright, bright color of pink as his eyes grew a little bit more.

"You're tutoring her, Johnnycake?!" Two-bit howled with cheer as he clapped his hands over and over again, as if he was at some kind of play.

"I'm tutoring her?!" Johnny asked, and Sondra shyly bit down on her lip as she gazed down at her feet, her hands tightly clenching each other.

"You're tutoring her." Mrs. Williams nodded her head at Johnny's question.

"And apperently I'm tutoring her..." Johnny nervously sighed as he smacked his hand straight onto his face.

Later that day at lunch, Kitten, Ponyboy, Two-bit, Steve, and Johnny were all sitting together at lunch with their food trays with different food on them resting on their round tables surface.

"So you're tutoring-" Kitten began stating the facts to Johnnycake, who was just poking at his food on his tray, with Two-bit's, Steve's, and Ponyboy's eyes on him, just like Kitten's were.

"Yep." Johnny sighed.

"This girl nicknamed 'Baby'-"

"Yeah."

"But you've never been alone with a girl before?"

"That's right."

Kitten touched her chin, smirking a little as she nodded her head, her emerald green eyes shimmering and her ginger-colored hair looking as silky as ever.

"You know something, Johnnycake? This is almost like a date between you and Baby!" Ponyboy chuckled, and right after Johnny heard those words, he started coughing because he had choked on his drink of the small gulp of his chocolate milk that he was drinking.

"A date?!" Johnny gasped, wiping away some of the leftover remains of his milk on his lips with the back of his free hand.

"Yeah. I mean, you're tutoring the girl here." Ponyboy pointed out the obvious as he simply shrugged his shoulders, and Johnny nodded his head to that fact.

"Well, yeah, but it ain't a date. We're just friends." Johnny informed.

"Oh, please, Johnny!" Two-bit laughed "I actually tutored a girl once, and trust me, it _isn't _the tutoring that we were caught up in at all!"

Johnny cocked an eyebrow as Ponyboy and Kitten exchanged looks, and Steve scowled at the wisecracker of the gang, who was now smiling his big; goofy grin.

"The only difference is, Two-bit, is that Johnny isn't going to be tutoring a girl that's drunk, and who'd do anything for a ride home in the rain!" Steve bellowed as he thumped Two-bit over the head.

Just then, Sondra came into the lunch room and she gazed around at how many people were in there, making her grow nervous and even scared a bit.

"Too maybe people again..huh, I might as well eat in the janitors closet again.." Sondra sighed under her breath, but before she could even turn around and head back out the door, Two-bit's voice called out with full thrill and excitement, cheering out the words, "BABY! HEY! OVER HERE! CHICA, COME SIT WITH US!"

Sondra grew a small grin as she realized Two-bit was addressing her, while waving his arm up in the air with a big; goofy smile plastered on his face, telling her to come over to the Greasers table and sit with the few gang members. Shyly, Sondra made her way over to the round table and she sat down in the free chair that was beside Johnny with the lunch that she secretly packed.

"So, Baby," Steve stated "you and Johnny are going to be studying together?"

Sondra shrugged her shoulders as she chewed what was in her mouth of her yellow apple, and after she swallowed, she said, "I don't know. I guess we are."

Johnny's face turned bright, bright red again as he watched Kitten, Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit all exchange amused and satisfied smirks.

"Johnny, speaking of that, I was hoping after school that we could start the tutoring. That sound good to you?" Sondra asked, but all Johnny did was glance at her with pure nervousness.

**A/N: I apologize, because I feel like the end of this chapter wasn't that good, but I'm trying my best and that's what counts! The next chapter will be sort of like a cute, bonding chapter between two certain people, whom you'll have to guess or wait and read about in the next chapter! Please REVIEW! I need them to keep my writing spirit! Anytime any of you have any suggestions, tell me 'em in the reviews or message me! I can't promise that they'll end up in the story, but we'll see! Now, read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**

**(And yes, Peter is one of my actual friends, just like Charlie and Rebecca are!) :)**


	8. Meeting Some New Greasers

**A/N: Thank you all for the favorites, reviews, and just for reading! I thank my great, tuff, and extremely golden friends in the gang for talking to me, and I don't know what I'd do without you all! You guys are just amazing, and that's coming from the heart! Also, one of my friends asked me how Sondra and Iris met Charlie, Rebecca, and Peter...well, that MIGHT come up sometime in the story. Now, I hope you all enjoy chapter 8. Alright then! Enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 8_

School sucked so much. It was just plain boring, like always, according to the few members of the Greasers gang and Sondra, except Two-bit, since he for some reason adored going to school, but not so early in the morning when he could really be sleeping in on the Curtis's couch. Johnny wanted to walk home that day, and Steve had to go straight to the DX station for his shift with Soda already being there, and Kitten had to work also, so Two-bit and Ponyboy were the only ones driving in Two-bit's old, souped up car, which Two-bit and Pony would pick up Cassidy from her school, and then the three of them would drive to the Curtis's house, where Darry, Dally, and Jocelyn were.

"So, Johnnycake," Kitten said, walking to the right of the oldest Cade with Steve walking on his left side. "You heading on home?"

Johnny bit down on his lip as his black eyes grew huge a bit, flooding with plead. He slipped his hands into his jean jackets pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "...I don't know...maybe..."

Steve pouted, which was extremely rare coming from him, considering that next to Dallas, Steve hardly ever frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to come to the DX station and just hang out while Kitty-Cat, Pepsi-Cola, and myself work?"

"Nah, Steve. It's fine. I'll be alright. I always am." Johnny sighed, gazing down at his old; worn out; dark-colored tennis shoes as they went back and forth on his feet when he walked down the concrete sidewalk with his two buds.

"You sure, Johnnycake? Seriously, you're parents are very hardcore and violent, and you, Cassidy, and Jocelyn get abused enough at night." Kitten pointed out, her voice sighing from sorrow because she hated that at that moment that she _had _to be correct about Mr and Mrs. Cade.

"Yeah, and, Johnny...Kit-Cat has a point. Remember that one time your mom was so drunk that she started chasing you out of your house, cursing at you and beating you with the broom? You were just lucky that Two-bit rushed in and saved you, and not to mention the fact that Dallas was babysitting Jocelyn and Cassidy at the time." Steve explained with pure sadness and sorrow.

Johnny tried his best to not frown so Kitten and Steve wouldn't worry about him, but the oldest Cade couldn't help his lips from tugging into a pout. Though, Johnny just shook his head.

"Don't worry 'bout me, Stevie. You either, Kitty-Cat. I'm always alright. So what if I get a new bruise or a new scratch...better me then my little sisters, and Jocelyn's safe at the Curtis's house while Carla's getting picked up by Two-bit and Pony. I'll be fine, so don't be woofin' about me, ya dig?" Johnny lectured. Dang, that was quite a mouthful when coming from one of the Cade's, because any of them hardly spoke a single word.

"Well..." Kitten sighed "...alright, but if you're in any need of help or you just want to get away from your place, just swing by the DX or just go to the Curtis's house like usual."

"Yeah, alright," Johnny shrugged his shoulders as he and his two friends stopped at the corner that they came to on the sidewalk. "I'll see you guys around. Later." Johnny gave Kitten and Steve both a small, shy wave good-bye, right before he jammed his hands back into his jean jackets pockets and trotted off across the road. Kitten and Steve both exchanged small frowns, but then they waved good-bye back to Johnny, keeping their eyes on him until he was out of sight. After that, Steve and Kitten both headed down around the corner, continuing their way down the sidewalk to make it to the DX station.

"You think he'll be okay?" Steve asked.

"Who? Johnny?" Kitten asked.

Steve cocked an eyebrow at the female Greaser as he adjusted his backpacks strap on his shoulder a little better. "No, Martin Luther King.." Steve sarcastically replied. Kitten rolled her eyes at his sarcasm as she placed her arms across her chest, the two of them still continuing their way towards the DX station, which they could now see in their view. Soda was most likely in the garage, working on some cars himself.

"Don't worry, Steve. I'm not so thrilled at all either with Johnny still going back to his house and getting abused, but he knows what to do when he's had enough." Kitten reminded. Steve crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders while Kitten placed her arms back down at her sides.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Steve sighed, and the two of them entered through the DX stations front glass doors. It was Kitten's turn to work behind the front counter that afternoon, so she clocked in with Steve, and then Steve headed out into the garage to help Sodapop out with fixing up some cars. However, they weren't just any cars. But they were _mustangs_. The exact second that Steve's eyes laid on one of the mustangs that were parked there in the large DX garage, he clenched his teeth together and narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself sarcastically, "_Oh, joy..._"

"Pepsi-Cola! Hey!" Steve greeted, unbuttoning his light, light blue DX jacket since it was so hot in that DX garage, as he stepped down the few wooden stairs until his tennis shoes met the concrete floor. Sodapop popped his head out from working underneath the hood of a orange mustang, and he flashed one of his world-famous, handsome smiles at his best friend.

"Yo, Stevie buddy! How was school today?" Soda asked.

"What are you askin' me that question for? Are you like my dad now?" Steve chuckled, and Sodapop playfully rolled his eyes, still smiling at his best friend while doing so.

"Since when does you father pay any mind to how your days at school went?" Sodapop questioned.

Steve thought about that for a moment, taking a short amount of time to digest his best buddies words, and then he shrugged his shoulders. "Good point. Well, school was boring like it usually is. Two-bit past out in math, Kitten was taking a cat-nap in science, and pretty much all of the usual boring crap. Anyway, how many ridiculous _mustangs _do we got to fix up today?" Steve questioned, nearly gagging when he came to the name of the Socs cars since he hated them so much.

Soda's smile instantly vanished off of his face and he released an annoyed sigh from thinking about how many mustangs he and Steve were going to have to fix up by later that day. Soda rolled his eyes as they met back under the hood of the mustang that he was working on.

"Not sure...I lost track after seven..." Soda mumbled, and right after he said that, Steve let out a loud, annoyed groan as he rolled his eyes, feeling like he was so close to punching something.

"Can these dang Socs stop ruining their mustangs just so they could leave us to work with 'em all day?! And dang it! It's hot to death in here! I feel like I'm in the desert and inside a boiling oven!" Steve complained as he took in and let out a deep breath, wiping away the sweat from his beating red face. Soda pouted a little, but then grinned a bit to help lighten the mood at least a little, and he used a rag from his back pocket to wipe the sweat away from his own face and neck.

"Steve, can you open the garage door, please? It may be fall, but at least the cool breeze will help the heat in her die down a bit." Soda said as he stripped his DX jacket and white T-shirt off from his body, right before he went back to twisting some bolts under the hood of the mustang that he was busy working on. Steve continued to wipe his face with the back of one of his bare hands as he forced himself to grin a small rare smile, and he nodded his head at his best friends comment, right before he walked over to the small device that made the DX garage open and close, and Steve pressed the button of the arrow that was pointing up.

As the garage door made its usual engine-like roar sound as it rose, Steve walked over to the mustang that Sodapop was working on, and he started helping him out, starting by going underneath the car and fixing whatever the problem was underneath there. By the time that Steve slid back out from underneath the mustang that he was working on with Soda, his bare chest was covered with oil, which Soda laughed a bit to, and he tossed his best buddy a rag, while Steve's face heated up a bit and he began to wipe away the oil smudges from his rock-hard chest. After that, Steve started just handing Soda the tools that he requested while he went back to fixing under the hood, after he had finished up with whatever problem was with the four tires.

"Screwdriver." Soda instructed, keeping his head down in the hood as he reached out one of his bare hands, and Steve dug out the tool that he requested from the toolbox that was right by his feet.

"Screwdriver." Steve replied, handing the tool over to his best pal, and he watched as Sodapop twisted and twirled it aound at some of the engines parts. Man, Soda has totally been approving his speed on all of this car fixing. Any faster and it could be as if he was one of those cartoons that look like everything is moving so rapidly fast that you could see the one arm of theirs jetting all around.

"Wrench." Sodapop requested after he finished using the screwdriver and handed it back to Steve, who placed it back into the toolbox, snatching up the wrench while he was at it.

"Wrench." Steve repeated, giving Soda the wrench like he had asked him to fetch.

"Hammer."

"Hammer."

Soda kept his empty hand, that was now slimly covered with oil, out, and he waited for Steve to give him the hammer, but just as Sodapop was about to use the hammer under the hood, he stopped when his eyes caught what he was actually holding.

"Steve, you gave me the screwdriver again!" Soda pointed out, chuckling a slight bit with his words, as he gently tossed the screwdriver back down into the toolbox, then snatched the hammer up himself.

"Sorry, man. I've just been so caught up in thinking about how much homework I got swamped with tonight." Steve moaned annoyingly, rolling his eyes while doing so. A confused, but yet amused expression formed on the middle Curtis's face as he took in and digested what Steve just told him.

"What'd you do in your study-hall if you have all of this homework leftover?" Soda asked.

"Sleeping! Duh!" Steve snickered, and Sodapop instantly burst out his handsome, silky, hystarical laughter after hearing what his best buddy did in his study-hall. "Say, Soda, I'm going to go right on ahead and start working on one of these other..cars myself." Steve informed, and since he didn't want to say the word 'mustangs', because they were Soc rides, he decided to just call 'em cars. He does the same thing with the SUV's the pull in, too, but during that day, there were just and only mustangs.

After about ten-to-fifteen or so minutes of working, Soda had returned from inside the shopping area of the DX station with two glass bottles of Coke, one for him and the other for Steve. Both of the male Greasers were still shirtless, feeling completely hot a bit with the cool breeze gently whistling in from the open garage door, and the fall day was just beautiful with the clear blue sky, the sun shining like a gold ray to Heaven, and only a few puffy white clouds were minding their ways through the afternoon sky.

"Don't these Socs have anything better to do besides janking up their cars so we can fix 'em up all over again?!" Steve asked in an aggrivated tone, as he popped off the cap from his glass bottle of Coke after Sodapop gave it to him. Soda took a sip of his own Coke and shrugged his shoulders, swallowing what was in his mouth before saying, "Heck, they're nothing but spoiled rich kids. _Obviously_ they have nothing better to do other then putting work on our backs, but it's fine. We love working on cars here. Remember that, alright, Stevie?"

Steve just simply shrugged his shoulders as he kicked back on a dark blue mustang, taking his short time off, or break, with Soda as they both continued drinking from their glass bottles of Coke.

"Buisness a little slow today, huh, buddy?" Steve asked.

Soda nodded his head and swallowed what of his Coke was in his mouth, wiping his lips with the back of his free hand afterwards, then he gazed around the opening of the garage, watching how some people were walking up and down the sidewalks. During weekdays in the afternoons, hardly any people are out on the road, so there weren't many people that Soda could spot, but there were a couple walking together and talking and laughing together, while some others were by themselves.

"Yeah. Other then those Socs who dropped off their mustangs, not many people are coming in today. Heck, I'm not going to be surprised one bit if the next time either of us go in and we see Kitten fast asleep on the counter." Sodapop snickered, and Steve playfully rolled his eyes.

"I doubt it, man. She fell asleep in science today." Steve took his turn in laughing a bit at just the memory of when Kitten came out of her science class that day, then shared that she had taken a cat-nap in there.

"Ohh, our Kit-Cat." Soda muttered to himself with his handsome smile still plastered on his face as he went back to looking all around through the opened garage door. The second oldest Curtis continued watching all around as he and Steve both continued to sip down their Cokes. All the sudden though, something, or _somebody_, caught Sodapop's full, undivided attention. "Hey, Steve?" Sodapop asked.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that, that girl you, Pony, Two-bit, Kitty-Cat, and Johnnycake have been speaking about. You know, that golden blonde Regular?"

Steve's eyes widened a bit as he quickly jugged down what was in his mouth of his Coke, and he took it down so fast from finding what Soda just said so unexpecting that it forced him to cough a few times. Soda patted Steve on the back a couple of times, asking him if he was alright since he began coughing like that from choking a bit on his drink.

"I'm fine, Soda. Now, who were you asking me about?" Steve questioned. Soda extended one of his arms fully and he pointed one of his pointer fingers out to the direction of where he was speaking of the spacific type of girl. Steve focused his full, undivided attention over to where Sodapop was pointing, and when Steve's eyes finally settled on that golden blonde young girl wearing the pink hoodie, light blue jeans, and worn out, old, red tennis shoes with the backpack swung over her shoulder, Steve instantly knew that, that girl _was _Sondra.

"Yeah, that's her. That's that Baby girl who's getting tutored by Johnnycake in math." Steve informed, his voice filled with some shock, only because he couldn't believe he and Soda were actually spotting a Regular walking all by herself on their half of town.

"Isn't he tutoring her today?" Soda asked as he cracked another one of his famous and extremely handsome grins, finding it pretty amusing and satisfying that Johnny was actually going to tutor a girl in a subject.

Steve's eyes slimly grew big at remembering what happened earlier that day at lunch, after Sondra had asked Johnny if tutoring after school would work, and all Johnnycake did was stare at her with pure nervousness.

"Well..." Steve shrugged his shoulders, and he knew when Soda turned his head and cocked an eyebrow at him in a confused manner, Steve knew that he'd want to hear the story. So, Steve started remembering what happened earlier that day during lunch a lot more in extra detail, as much as he could, and he opened his mouth, starting to tell Sodapop the full story about what happened at lunch.

_"...What?" Johnny nervously hesitated as he brushed a piece of his heavily hair-greased, jet-black hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ear. Two-bit, Steve, Ponyboy, and Kitten all gazed at him, confusion shining off in their eyes as Sondra shyly pouted, and she sat the apple that she was eating down on her brown paper bag that her lunch was secretly packed in. _

_"...I was only hoping that we could start tutoring later on after school, because I need to pick up Iris from Charlie's house in the evening time, and the sooner we start, the sooner I'll understand it...hopefully." Sondra innocently and shyly explained to Johnny, as if he was the only one there at the table with her, but she deeply knew on the inside that Pony, Kitten, Two-bit, and Steve were listening to every word that the two of them exchanged, hers being a lot more soft and shy, while Johnny's were hesitant and nervous._

_"Look, I know you're in need of help in math, and I'm glad to help you...but...I..." Johnny stuttered, his innocent black eyes growing huge a bit when he realized how hurt Sondra now looked, her pale blue eyes sparkling off sorrow with some tears already starting to slightly form in them, as if she just went through another beating. Johnny began feeling his heart ache himself, because he felt like a total jerk for stammering so much with his speaking that it properly made Sondra think that he actually DIDN'T want to tutor her...but he truly did._

_"...You don't want to be known as the Greaser tutoring the dumb Regular?" Sondra sighed. Instantly, Johnny shook his head, not needing to hesitate one single moment after hearing that question, which he secretly thought was just a plain ridiculous one. Even Two-bit, Steve, Kitten, and Ponyboy shook their heads after hearing Sondra ask that question, but Sondra was mainly focusing on Johnny's responses only at the time._

_"No! I don't think you're dumb, Baby...but...um...I...uh...I just..." Johnny kept trying to spit it out, but he just couldn't string the words together just right, and seeing some more tears forming in Sondra's pale blue eyes, which Johnny actually thought were a very pretty color, really wasn't helping the cause. "I'm sorry," Johnny sighed "I just need to go."_

_Sondra pouted more, tears filling up in her eyes even more at the same time, and Two-bit, Ponyboy, Steve, and Kitten all exchanged both shocked and pity looks on their faces, and Johnny stood up from his seat with his food tray, right before he quickly trotted away from the table. Sondra's cheeks burned up with humiliation as she snatched up her apple and took one more quick bite of it, before she quickly packed her food back up in her brown paper bag and she stood up from her seat, feeling completely like a huge loser. _

_"Wait! Baby! Please!" Ponyboy pleaded, one of his hands over his mouth to keep the food that was chewed up a bit in there hidden from any view or sight._

_"Yeah! Baby, please don't go! Johnnycake doesn't mean anything harsh or anything, but he's never actually been-" Kitten attempted explaining that Johnny has never been alone with a girl before, but Sondra placed her free hand up to her shoulder as she shook her head, her huge pout still on her face._

_"I'm sorry, guys...but I got to go." Sondra whimpered, and she quickly turned around and jetted off, allowing some of her tears to start to fall from her eyes. Kitten, Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit all kept their eyes on the fourteen-year-old girl until she was no longer in the cafeteria, and when she was now gone from the room, the four of them started exchanging their facial expressions again. Two-bit cracked a phony, but very realistic grin of his on his face as he opened his mouth to say something to at least lighten the mood by just a smidge, but Steve quickly jammed an apple in his mouth before he could speak a single word, and Kitten giggled at the sight as Ponyboy informed Two-bit that this was no time for joking around._

Soda couldn't believe the story. It was only shocking because Johnny has_ never_ treated _anybody_ like that. Although, Sodapop could understand why Johnnycake was acting like that. Since he's never been alone with a girl before, he didn't know how to act or how it'd turn out, but there was a first time for everything and Mrs. Williams made it perfectly clear that Johnny was now going to be tutoring Sondra.

"How is this Baby girl? Adventerous? Brave? Curious? A dazzling, bright shooting star?" Soda asked, and Steve placed his free hand on his hip as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Shy...she's extremely shy, quiet, and you can tell with just a simple snap of the fingers that she's super sensitive." Steve listed, before he took another drink of his Coke. Soda took a moment to think about Steve's words that he used to describe the fourteen-year-old Regular and the second oldest Curtis touched his chin, scratching it a bit.

"Hm, I see..." Soda nodded his head, before he gazed back across the street to see Sondra just simply walking, as if nothing was on her mind when something, or in this case, many things, were locked up and weighing heavily on her mind. Steve watched his best pal, knowing instantly what he was abot to do, but he really didn't mind one bit. Steve figured it was actually a good thing to do.

"HEY! GIRLY WITH THE GOLDEN BLONDE LOCKS! BABY!" Sodapop howled out, his voice cheerful and filled with warming friendship like it always was. Soda and Steve both watched as Sondra instantly stopped walking and turned her attention over to the DX garage, seeing the two male Greasers now waving at her, Steve's being simple as he took a couple more drinks of his Coke, and Soda's being rapidly fast with a big, movie-star handsome smile plastered on his face all over again. Sondra felt her face slimly heat up, but she knew that Soda was addressing her because he had called out her nickname, and considering that she knew Steve, Sondra felt that it was okay to go over to the DX station and chill out with just a talk or two. So, Sondra adjusted the strap of her backpack better on her arm, and then she crossed the street, ignoring some of the other peoples snickers and soft-spoken, harsh words towards her because she was a Regular.

"So _you're _the famous Baby girl!" Soda cheered after Sondra had made it all the way over to him and Steve, and she was now inside the DX garage with the two of them. A slightly confused expression formed on Sondra's face as she shrugged her shoulders at what Sodapop just said.

"...I guess...that's a compliment, right?" Sondra confusedly asked, and Soda laughed as he nodded his head.

"You bet it is, Baby! It's nice to meet you! I'm Sodapop Curtis! But everybody calls me Soda for short, or Pepsi-Cola for a nickname!" Soda greeted himself as he held out his hand for Sondra to shake it, but Soda then noticed that his hand was slimly covered with some oil because he was working on the mustangs with Steve. "Oh, sorry." Soda apologized, and he pulled out the rag from his back pocket, then started wiping away the oil from his hand.

"Did you just say your name is Sodapop _Curtis?_" Sondra questioned, and Soda proudly grinned as he nodded his head again.

"Yep! That's me! I'm Sodapop Patrick Curtis in the flesh!" Soda introduced himself again, as he stuffed the oil-stained rag back into his back pocket.

"I know your brother! Ponyboy, I believe is his name, correct?" Sondra asked, hoping to death that she wasn't sounding ridiculous with that question, considering that those few Greasers that she actually met before were supposed to be her friends, and she didn't even know all of their names yet.

Soda chuckled a bit. "Yes, that's my baby brother. And I understand that you know him, considering that he's been talking a lot about you, along with Kitten, Two-bit, Johnnycake, and even Stevie here. You're one mighty popular Regular among us, the Greasers."

Sondra placed her hands on her hips and sighed, hiding her small frown from tugging its way onto her face. "Please don't remind me about me being a Regular. It's not exactly paradise being known as someone who isn't a Soc or a Greaser."

Steve and Soda both exchanged their looks that were on their faces, and Steve shrugged his shoulders as he took another slurp of his Coke, meaning he was telling Soda to just listen to the fourteen-year-old girls request.

"Oh, okay...I'm sorry, Baby. Say, you want anything to drink? It's on me." Soda offered, but Sondra instantly shook her head after she took in Sodapop's words to her.

"I'm fine, but thank you anyway." Sondra thanked the second oldest Curtis as she shrugged her shoulders. Steve and Sodapop both exchanged expressions again, and Steve finished off the last few slurps of his Coke, settling the now empty glass bottle down on the concrete floor as he wiped his lips with the back of his free hand.

"Listen, Baby...after what happened at lunch today...are you okay?" Steve asked, concerndly. Sondra stuffed her hands into her light blue jeans pockets and she shrugged her shoulders again, thinking about the memories of what happened earlier that day at lunch as they flooded back into her mind.

"I guess I am...hey, speaking of Johnnycake, do you guys know where his house is?" Sondra asked.

"Of course we know where his house is!" Steve replied as Soda nodded his head.

"Well, can you guys please tell me his address? I want to go over there to inform him about some date we could use for tutoring." Sondra shared. Steve and Soda, once again, exchanged their facial expressions, but this time they were both a little serious, because they both knew that each other were thinking that if Sondra goes over to Johnny's house and sees him being abused, she'd most likely never want to speak to him again. Then again though, Steve and Sodapop both figured since they and the rest of the gang know about Johnny's abuse, then it wouldn't matter if Sondra did, even though she was a Regular. At least she'd keep quiet about it, considering how shy and sensitive she truly is.

"Alright, Baby. We'll tell you his address," Soda bowed his head, and then he kept his word by explaining what Johnny's house looked like, and which ways to travel for a short cut there, while Steve added in the actual number address of the Cade's house. Sondra nodded her head at every single detail that Sodapop gave her, and the actual address number of Johnny's house.

"Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Soda. I'll, uh..see you guys 'round?" Sondra shrugged her shoulders at her own question, and she felt extremely stupid, but she felt relieved when she watched the two male Greasers actually flash their smiles and glimmering eyes off at her.

"Yeah, of course, Baby! We'll see you around!" Steve nodded his head, and Sodapop joined in with full agreement. Sondra took in and let out a soft, but deep breath of relief, and she slimly grew a small grin upon her face as she finally reached out her hand, then took a gentle and shy grip of Soda's, shaking it for a couple of seconds, before she let it go.

"It was nice meeting you, Soda." Sondra shyly said, still grinning her small, pretty, but yet shy smile, and Soda smiled right back with Steve, their smiles big and handsome.

"It was nice meeting you, too, Baby. Stevie and I will see you around, okay? The rest of the gang will, too." Sodapop assured. Sondra's shy grin vanished right off of her face as her eyes slimly grew big, which confused both Soda and Steve.

"There's even _more _Greasers?" Sondra asked, half surprised/half shocked.

Steve nodded his head. "In our gang, yes. There's three more of us. Soda's and Ponyboy's oldest brother, Darrel, but we call him Darry, then there's none other then Dallas Winston, and lastly, there's Johnny's and Carla's youngest baby sister, Jocelyn."

"There's also Tim, Curly, and Angela Shepard, but they're just our friends. They're in a different type of Greasers gang though. But don't think 'bout that now, Baby. Just head on down to Johnnycake's house so you two can study math." Soda instructed. Still remaining a bit shocked and surprised, and now a slight bit nervous, too, Sondra secretly took down a gulp so she could clear away that bump from within her throat, but then she just nodded her head and turned away from Soda and Steve, telling them one last good-bye before she started her way to Johnny's house. Sodapop and Steve kept their eyes on Sondra until she vanished around the corner, continuing her shy way down the sidewalk, and with her no longer in their sight, Soda and Steve both went back to working on the mustangs.

Sondra tightly clenched the strap of her backpack that was there on her shoulder, as she felt her face burn up with humiliation, and her heart rapidly raced in her chest from instantly knowing that all of these people that were looking at her were as they continued their ways all around, were Greasers, considering that Sondra was on their half of town and not in the center of both the Greasers and Socs territory, which is where the Regulars were often located, except if you're Charlie or Rebecca, then you're on Greaser territory.

"WHERE'S SOME DECENT CLOTHES OF YOUR, YOU REGULAR!" one male Greaser called out from across the street, his voice harsh and bitter, while his group of buddies burst into fits of laughter.

"WHY ARE YOU ON OUR SIDE OF TOWN?! GO BACK HOME BEFORE WE KICK YOU THERE!" another male Greaser threatened, him having his arm slung around his girlfriends shoulder and his other hand digging inside his pocket for anything he could use as a weapon.

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF A BIRTH! GO DIE IN A HOLE!"

"YOU'RE NOBODY TO ANYBODY! EVERYBODY HATES YOU, REGULAR!"

Sondra closed her eyes and took in and let out a deep, but soft breath, through her nose, as she felt her heart ache with sorrow pain and humiliation, but she reopened her pale blue eyes, which were shimmering off plead, and she kept walking, thinking that she was going to Johnny's house no matter what. Meanwhile, across the street in a dim lot that was slimly filled with both some sunlight and dark shade, were three Greasers, all teenagers, one female and two male. They were actually Tim, Curly, and Angela Shepard, who were all playing cards as they sat there in the lot, which was actually their lot.

"..Curly, it's obvious that you're cheating." Tim moaned, rolling his dark eyes as he stared at his own cards, peaking over at his younger brother and a little bit of their little sister while doing so.

"What?! No, I'm not!" Curly objected, getting so close to throwing his cards down and starting a fight with the eldest Shepard, but he decided not to, because he knew if he actually did, Tim would beat him in a flat second.

"I can see the aces you're stuffing up your sleeves!" Tim growled, which meant he was telling Curly that he meant buisness. Quickly, Curly shot his attention down to his long T-shirts sleeves to realize that some of the aces actually _were _peaking out from underneath the fabric of his sleeves. Curly slapped one of his hands straight onto his forehead.

"Dang it!" Curly slurred, half annoyed/half upset.

Angela rolled her eyes at Curly's behavior with him still attempting to hide the cards in their card games up his sleeves and sometimes even in his shoes and socks, but in this case, it was just his T-shirts sleeves.

"You know, Curly," Angela mumbled "I always wanted to get through at least _one _game without you cheating!"

"Yeah, well, Angel, I always wanted a puppy, but they brought you home instead." Curly sassed back, which instantly earned him a hard thump over the back of the head by Tim.

"Hey! Cut it out! That's our kid sister here, Curly!" Tim reminded, angrily, while he gazed back down at the cards that he was holding, using his free hand to swipe the peaking aces out from Curly's sleeves. Curly narrowed his eyes as he clenched his teeth behind his closed lips, glaring at Angela, who was smirking at him because she knew that Tim loved her more then anybody in the whole world, and he always protected her through the thick and thin.

"Yeah, she's our kid sister alright...and she's such a-" Curly muttered under his breath, and he went on calling Angela every name in the book, until he felt another thump meet the back of his head, but this time was from Angela herself, and her smirk was now a strict scowl with her face beating red, and her eyes shooting off pure anger.

"Can it, wind bag!" Angela demanded, snarling like a junk-yard dog with her words. Curly annoyingly rolled his eyes as he wiped away some sweat from underneath his long bangs.

"It sucks being the middle child in this family..." Curly mumbled, thinking that nobody else could hear him, but he was proven wrong when he witnessed Angela cross her arms and roll her eyes at him, followed by Tim snapping out, "Well, it sucks with being the oldest to you two! Now shut up with the fighting!"

"I'm bored with this game." Curly complained.

"Well, maybe if you stopped cheating, we could actually have fun with it." Tim pointed out, rolling his eyes as he gathered up the cards from his siblings, then slipped them away into his leather jackets pockets. "Maybe we can head on home now. Our mom is properly awake from her hangover, and our old man might not threaten us with his full attention on her."

Curly nodded his head with full agreement, trying his best to take his mind off of what just happened between him and his siblings during their little card game, but Angela was busy concentrating on something else...or _somebody _else.

"Hey, Tim, Curly...look who's over there." Angela instructed.

"It's not Ponyboy again, is it?" Curly cautiously/annoyingly questioned as he crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. Angela narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her teeth in an angry/annoyed manner.

"No! It's not Ponyboy, FYI! It's a Regular!" Angela exclaimed, and without any hesitation, her older brothers eyes shot huge as they forced their full, undivided attention towards the direction across the street where Angela had been looking at. Yep, the three of them had noticed Sondra, and boy, the Shepard's _hated _Regulars. Nevertheless, at that time, it was different, because Tim, Curly, and Angela were witnessing Sondra getting picked on by some other male Greaser named Grant, who just so happened to be in the Shepard's Greaser gang, meaning that they were friends of Grant, and Grant was a friend of theirs.

Sondra kept on walking, trying her best to tune out Grant's rude words and mocking laughter towards her as he trotted around her. It suddenly struck Sondra that she possibly could've been jumped by this Greaser, and after being jumped by Socs in just the past few days, Sondra wasn't in the mood for reliving getting jumped, but this time by a Greaser. Just as Sondra was about to say something, here came Tim yanking her up from the concrete by her hoodies collar, while Angela and Curly both guarded Grant to keep him away from Sondra. Sondra's eyes were now huge with her heart racing rapidly fast in her chest like a wild and crazy horse, and Tim just glared at her. Curly and Angela both told Grant to back off and be on his way, which Grant instantly nodded his head to, and he left.

Angela and Curly both then turned their attention around to Sondra, who was now whimpering and squirming to be free by Tim's hardcore grip on her hoodies collar that was holding her up off from her own feet. Tim's eyes narrowed more, making them seem like they were about to flare into two pits of flaming fires.

"Who are you, Regular?! And why are you on our side of town?!" Tim demanded.

"P-Please! Don't h-hurt me! I'm just heading to Johnny C-Cade's house so he c-can tutor me in math!" Sondra nervously panicked out, stuttering with some of her words from worrying so much about what could possibly happen to her. To Sondra's surprise, Tim's glare instantly faded off of his face, and he exhanged his new surprised expression with Angela and Curly, who were both surprised as well with what Sondra just told them what she was doing.

"Johnathan Alexander Cade?! No way! We know that kid!" Curly informed, and just hearing those words helped a huge weight lift off of Sondra's mind and heart, allowing the fourteen-year-old girl to release a deep breath of relief.

"And he's tutoring you in math?" Tim concerndly asked. Sondra took no hesitation at all to quickly nod her head, and she was now completely relieved when Tim gently placed her back down on the ground. Afterwards, Sondra shyly allowed Tim to fix her hoodies collar around her neck until it looked good as new. "I'm sorry..." Tim sighed, muttering his words since he hated apologizing to anybody, even his friends, siblings, or his folks.

"Yeah, we're sorry. It's just that, after we spot a Regular on our side of town, we always figure that they're plotting their first ever rumble between us, the Greasers, or the Socs." Curly explained, but he didn't realize that Sondra truly had no clue what a rumble was. Angela and even Tim didn't realize that either.

"Oh, um...well, I'm not...I'm Baby..." Sondra shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, good deal of meetin' you, Baby. I'm Curly, and this is my little sister, Angela, and our older bro, Timmy." Curly introduced, which instantly made him recieve a death-mock stare from his and Angela's oldest brother.

"It's _Tim!_" Tim exclaimed as he attempted to thump his younger brother over the head again, but Curly blocked his hit this time.

"Quit it, Tim!" Curly commanded, and Tim just rolled his eyes as he placed both of his hands back down at his sides.

Sondra's eyes slimly grew big again after she took in the three Greasers names. "Wait, wait...you guys are...Tim, Curly, and Angela? As in...the Shepard's?"

Tim cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his rock-hard chest as Angela and Curly exchanged confused looks that were now upon their faces.

"..We never said our last names." Tim pointed out through his slightly clenched teeth, which were only clenched because when he was thinking about anything, that's what his teeth did.

"You didn't have to." Sondra told him as she placed her hands on the opposites shoulders in a nervous and shy manner. Heck, her voice was still soft and quiet, because she was extremely shy and sensitive. "I know the other gang of Greasers that are run by the Curtis's, and Sodapop Curtis and Steve Randle told me about you guys."

Tim, Curly, and Angela all hesitated, while Sondra shyly gazed at them, waiting for one of them to say something back to her.

"...Hm, we see..." Tim then understood, nodding his head as he scratched his chin after the short pause. "Well listen here, Regular..if I were you, I'd best be getting over to Johnny's house before you get nearly jumped once again."

Once again with getting called a Regular. It sucked, according to Sondra. It was like you're new to Tulsa, and somebody asks you if you're a Greaser or a Soc, and when you don't know how to respond to that questioned, you get labeled as a Regular. Another word people sometimes call these Regulars are the 'middle class', but it's mostly known as a Regular, which Sondra actually liked a whole lot better to be called, but at the same time, she hates it.

"Um, right...I'll see you guys later." Sondra said, and without another word needing to be spoken, she left the Shepard's, who only watched her as she walked past them, and they continued keeping their eyes on her until she was out of their sight.

The fourteen-year-old Regular continued walking for about five minutes straight, and she finally arrived to Johnny's house. Nervously, Sondra took down a huge gulp as her face burned up with shyness, but before she could even walk up to the front door, here came Johnny out the front door with a terrible bruise now on the lower right part of his jaw. Tears were slightly shimmering in his innocent black eyes, and his hands were jammed in his jean jackets pockets.

"Johnnycake? Are you okay?" Sondra shyly asked as she awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. Johnny's black eyes shot huge as he quickly looked up and saw Sondra just standing there on his front lawn, her face bright, bright red, and her eyes big a bit because they met Johnny's new and terrible bruise. Johnny's hand quickly flung to his jaw and he covered up the bruise that was there on his skin, but Sondra just shook her head and said that it was alright, because she already noticed his injury. Hesitantly and slowly, Johnny took his hand away from his jaw and placed his hand back into his jean jackets pocket, trying his best to hide his pout, but he just couldn't help it from tugging at his lips.

"Baby, what are you doing here? How'd you even find my house?" Johnny asked, but his voice wasn't sounding harsh or demanding. He was using his usual soft and calm tone, but at this moment, some concern was mixed in with it, too.

"I stopped by the DX and talked to Steve and Sodapop. They told me where you lived so I could come over and see if we could start tutoring. I brought my math supplies." Sondra shared. Johnny took in a deep, but soft breath, and let it out, both through his nose as he looked down at his worn out tennis shoes, taking a moment to think what Sondra just said through.

"...Well alright. We can start tutoring now, but I'll need to borrow your math stuff to read from and explain to you, because mine is back inside my house." Johnny informed.

A slimly confused expression then whiped across Sondra's face after she heard the eldest Cade say that. "Aren't we tutoring here, Johnny? I think it'd be a great time for your parents to understand who I am so they won't get concerned with you tutoring me."

"Uh, no..." Johnny shook his head without hesitating for a single moment after he heard Sondra speak about him tutoring her in his house with his abusive parents around. Johnny knew if his folks saw him even talking to a girl, they would jump to thinking that Johnny was sleeping with her or something terrible like that. Johnny awkwardly scratched the back of his head, knowing for a fact that Sondra wouldn't understand why he said that they couldn't go inside his place.

"I was actually just thinking that...we could go over to your place and-" Johnny began stating, but he was cut off the exact moment Sondra's eyes filled up with plead, and she started shaking her head like there was no tomorrow. "Why can't we go to your place, Baby?" Johnny innocently questioned, but all he got from Sondra was a shrug.

"...Johnnycake, where'd you get that bruise?" Sondra asked, hoping it'd change the subject, but it didn't work.

"Don't ask. So, where _can _we actually go to study?" Johnny asked.

"...I think I know a place...come on, follow me...it's a bit of a walk into the woods, but it's actually a very amazing place to go."

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Lead the way."

**A/N: Hm, where are Sondra and Johnny going? What's going to happen when Johnny tutors Sondra? Will she understand it? Or will she just screw it all up in her own mind? Please REVIEW! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, pretty please! **

**And a special thanks goes out to my friends, Rebecca, Peter, Charlie, Savannah, Maddy, and the whole rest of the tuff gang for being right by my side and talking to me, encouraging me the whole way, just like my other friend, AlongtheBinding. You all are the best. I don't know what I'd do without such golden friends. I love you guys! :')**

**Read yawl in the next chapter now! :D :D :D :D**


	9. Some Bonding Time

**A/N: Thank you all for the favorites, reviews, and just for reading! I thank my amazing, golden, and extremely tuff friends in the gang for talking to me, and I don't know what I'd do without you all! You guys are just awesome, and that's still a fact that's coming straight from the heart! Now, I hope you all enjoy chapter 9. Alright then! Enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 9_

"So...ready to tell me how you got that bruise?"

"Nope."

"..Oh, okay...you ready now?"

"Sorry, Baby, but no."

"...How about now?"

"Baby!"

"Okay! I'm sorry! I was just kidding that last time!"

Johnny playfully rolled his shimmering black eyes, right before he scratched his bruise that was still mixed together with the colors of purple, blue, and black there on the bottom right of his jaw from where his father got at him again with a single blow of his clenched fist, which instantly meant that Mr. Cade was drunk...again...yeah, not a surprise one bit.

Johnny was now following Sondra through the woods, and they were actually very beautiful with the sunshine peaking through the bright colors of the orange, gold, red, and brown leaves, and the sweet breeze gently whistling through the air, and singing through the trees, while an open field had sweet green grass, and you could hear the soothing sound of some water in a small river flow, making its gray rocks around it shimmer and glow brightly with sparkles.

"I got to admit...I've never come to the woods before..." Johnny confessed, his voice soft with amazement, and his eyes glimmering with so much surprised feelings at the beautiful and wonderful sights that they were meeting for the first time ever.

"Really? Iris and I always used to travel and explore out here with our-" Sondra quickly shut herself up, and the happiness in her voice faded, as her eyes narrowed with sorrow at what she was about to say, but she didn't take any hesitation to close her mouth from the horrible memory that suddenly flashed into her head. Johnny focused his eyes on the fourteen-year-old girl, who he was stil following after to where ever they were heading for tutoring. Johnny didn't need to see Sondra's face to know that she was now pouting with sorrow overwhelming her body. Seeing her backside only didn't have any effect on Johnny from instantly knowing that something was now on Sondra's mind. _That's _how much Johnnycake cared for her.

"...You and Iris used to come out into these woods with...who?" Johnny questioned "...and are you alright, Baby?"

Sondra took in a deep breath of the cool air that was hearable for Johnny, and she released it, right before she gazed over her shoulder, then turned her whole body around, now walking backwards as she forced herself to shyly and slimly smile at Johnny.

"I'm fine, Johnnycake...and just forget I ever brought that up, okay?" Sondra polietly, but yet at the same time, nervously asked. At first, Johnny hesitated, taking a moment to think about how concerned he was now feeling about Sondra, and then about how nervous/shy she was now acting about his question. Nevertheless, Johnny bowed his head and told Sondra the exact words, "Okay...I won't ask about it ever again."

"Thank you..." Sondra thanked, but her tone was sighing with absolute relief, and you could tell by the new expression on her face that a huge weight was suddenly lift right off of her mind and heart. Sondra turned her whole body back around, now looking back over her shoulder again so she could see Johnny, who's face was now bright, bright red when his black eyes met Sondra's pale blue eyes. "So, Johnnycake," Sondra then spoke up, her voice shy and soft again. "Why haven't you ever explored the woods? It's a whole new world out in these places. It's not just dirt, rocks, and bark, ya know?"

Johnny stuffed his hands back into his jean jackets pockets as he nodded his head. "Yeah, I dig what you're gettin' at, Baby."

Again with that 'dig' term...god, Sondra still had no clue what it meant, and she felt too embarrassed on the inside to even bother asking Johnny what it really stood for.

Johnny then shrugged his shoulders. "I just never thought about coming out here...none of the Greasers actually have...not even the Socs have been out here..."

"Yeah, I get that only Regulars have only been out here in the woods, especially me, Rebecca, Charlie, Iris, the rest of our slimly mini gang, and Iris's and my...well...you get my point. Only Regulars have mainly been the ones to explore the woods, but that doesn't mean a Greaser, nor even a Soc, could actually come out here and enjoy nature." Sondra instructed.

"...You dig Greasers or Socs more, Baby?" Johnny was eager to get that question off of his chest.

"...Excuse me?" Sondra asked, being polite, but yet confused at the same time, as she cocked an eyebrow and turned fully back around, so she was walking backwards again. "...I'm sorry, Johnny, but...I...ugh...I don't know what you mean by 'digging' or 'dug'...I don't know what it means, Charlie doesn't know what it means, Rebecca doesn't know what it means, Iris doesn't know what it means-"

"Okay, I get it." Johnny cut the fourteen-year-old girl off, right before he grew a very small grin. "And it's totally fine that you don't understand it. I'll explain it to you. Saying 'dig' or 'dug' is often and mainly a Greaser thing. It only means you understand something or someone. So, in this case, I was just wondering which gang you think is cooler. The Greasers, or the Socs."

"Oh, well...when you put it that way...I dig the Greasers." Sondra shared as she stuffed her hands into her light blue jeans pockets and turned forward again, leaving Johnnycake to look at her backside with such a surprised expression now plastered on his face. He honestly never thought such a very sweet and actually pretty Regular would dig the Greasers gang instead of the Socs. Believe it or not, Johnny actually digged girls who were tomboys. They weren't all frilly, prissy, and girly, and they weren't afraid to get their hands dirty when they desperately needed to...and Sondra perfectly matched that tomboy character...which Johnny secretly adored...but he didn't believe he actually had feelings for Sondra, other then the two of them being friends.

"...You actually think the Greasers are cooler then the Socs?" Johnny asked surprised.

"Yeah." Sondra nodded her head, still keeping her eyes foward that time as she and Johnny continued their way down the light brown dirt path of the woods, listening to the leaves crunch underneath their worn out, old tennis shoes, as the wind continued gently blowing and whistling through the air and trees. It was a really...romantic-like time.

"Why do you think Greasers are better? I mean, I know _my_ reason of why I think they are, but why do _you _think so, Baby?" Johnny concerndly questioned, and he still didn't need to see Sondra's face to know for a fact that she was now grinning a little bit. Knowing that she was slimly smiling helped Johnny grin a bit, as he tucked a piece of his heavily hair-greased, jet-black hair behind his ear.

"Believe it or not, Johnnycake, I don't believe that the Greasers are as harsh, bitter, and heartless as the Socs. The Greasers actually give at least a tiny bit of a care to the Regulars, like myself for an example. Heck, even I know Dallas Winston cares at least a bit, considering the way he treated me after he found out about Iris." Sondra explained. Throughout the whole response, Johnny smiled greatly and brightly, as his face lit up bright, bright red again. However, after he heard Sondra bring up about how Dally found out about Iris, a big, concerned, and curious expression formed on the eldest Cade's face. His eyes shimmered with some confusion as he cocked an eyebrow.

"..What about Iris exactly, Baby?" Johnny questioned.

"Oh, um...well...oh, look! We're here, Johnny!" Sondra then announced as she stopped walking, and the oldest Cade instantly stopped right behind her, but his confused look stayed right on his face as he gazed all around, not seeing anywhere to actually study in or at.

"Um..._where_ exactly is_ here?_" Johnny questioned confusedly.

"Look _up, _Johnnycake." Sondra informed him, her sight still glued on where ever it was or _whatever_ it was for Johnny to tutor her. Still completely confused, the eldest Cade placed his hands on his hips as he decided to do what Sondra kindly and shyly asked him to do, and when Johnny actually did look up, there in a tree, resting its thick branches, was what...looked like to Johnny a box of wood, with each piece of the thick wood actually darkly colored, and chipping. Well, it was obvious that whatever the thing was, it was run down, or in a simple word, just plain old. One side of this thing was painted green, while another side was yellow, another was blue, and the last was orange. There was also what looked like a little porch-like structure outside of this things hollow doorway, and it was painted pink. A long rope dangled from the tough-looking railing of that porch-like thing as well.

Johnny's eyes slimly grew big at the sight as he walked up to Sondra's side, standing close to her now, and when Johnny turned his head to just see Sondra's face, he was surprised to see her smile so much bigger and brighter, showing all of her sparkling white teeth, as her pale blue eyes glimmered under the sunlight, showing how much joy and happiness that were actually there within them. Johnny's never seen Sondra look so happy...but man...he certainly thought that she looked beautiful.

"...Can I dare ask you what this, um.._place_ is?" Johnny questioned. He scratched the back of his neck in a awkward/embarrassed way as Sondra turned her full, undivided attention towards him. To his surprise, she was actually still beautifully smiling with her eyes still sparking up with fireworks of joy and happiness.

"What does it look like, Johnny?" Sondra questioned.

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "In my opinion, it just looks like a block of wood."

Sondra locked one of her hands over her mouth as she released some adorable little laughs, being very quiet so only she could hear them, but she knew Johnny must've heard her giggling because he was now grinning, and his face was the color of a bright, bright red again.

"It's a tree house, Johnnycake! But you were close, I guess...it _is _obviously made of wood, so." Sondra shrugged her shoulders, and Johnny playfully rolled his eyes, gazing back up at the thing in the thick branches of the tree that it was in, and realizing that it actually _was _a tree house.

"Oh, I see it now." Johnny spoke "so you want to study.._up there?_"

Sondra instantly nodded her head after hearing that question come out of his mouth. "Yes! That's the main reason we walked out here into the woods!"

"...Right...so, um...how do we actually get up there?" Johnny questioned as he scratched his bruise again, being very careful since it was so sore. He watched as the fourteen-year-old girl continued to smile at him, and without saying another word, Johnny watched as Sondra walked over to the rope that was dangling there by the tough-looking railing of the tree houses pink porch. Johnny's eyes slightly widened, realizing what Sondra was getting at when she gently clenched the rope with both of her hands, then gave it a single little tug.

"We're climbing, of course. It's the same way we get down, too." Sondra shared. Johnny's black eyes widened a little more. Sondra secretly pouted a bit, feeling her heart starting to get weighed down on a little once again. But she didn't allow her frown to form upon her lips. "You know something, Johnny? I admit that I'm a loner, not a climber, but it's actually worth going up there." the fourteen-year-old Regular pointed out to the sixteen-year-old Greaser.

"...Well, alright..." Johnny said, still wide-eyed a bit. "...I'm not much of a climber either, just the heads up for that."

"Don't worry, Johnnycake. Just look up and watch me, and then when I reach the top, I'll pull you up over the railing, okay?" Sondra asked.

"...Okay..." Johnny nodded his head. "We better get climbing, because I got to tutor you before the evening arrives. You need to go back to see Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris at that time, remember?"

Sondra nodded, and then had a little hop start on the rope, starting to climb as Johnny walked up to the rope and took down a little gulp, clearing the baseball-sized lump that ws resting in his throat.

"..Well...here goes nothin'..." Johnny mumbled to himself under his breath, just as he took a very tight grasp of the rope, then forced himself up. The two teenagers climbed and climbed, for it was a very high tree that they were climbing up, and the tree house was up in one of its highest, toughest branches. Sondra paused on the rope, her legs connected around it and her hands clenched on top of each other, as she looked down to see how Johnny was doing, and he was only a couple of inches behind her.

"You doing good, Johnnycake?" Sondra asked, her voice sort of echoing from the two of them being so high up on the rope.

"...Yeah, I'm doing fine..." Johnny nervously replied, his fists starting to turn bright red from being clenched so tightly on the rope, and his legs were slimly trembling because they were no longer touching the ground like they always do.

"Alright. Don't worry. We're almost there." Sondra promised, and then she started climbing again.

"...Don't look down, don't look down..." Johnny shyly and fearfully muttered to himself. He had his eyes now clenched shut, but he couldn't help himself to slimly peak down from over his shoulder to realize how high he and Sondra were. Dang, they were so high up. Johnny's eyes shot huge as his heart felt like it took one major leap in his chest, and then it dropped from so much fear and shock. "Look up, look up!" Johnny then mumbled, but this time a little bit louder and extra more fearful as he kept his eyes locked on Sondra, continuing his way after her on the rope.

"Okay, Johnny. I'm up. Give me your hands, one first, and the clench our other one over it." Sondra instructed after she had pulled her way over the railing, like she was a spy from one of those action movies. Afterwards, she reached her hands down, slightly leaning over the railing for Johnny, who had let go of the rope with one of his hands and reached up towards Sondra's. The two of them reached for each other, but finally, Johnny was able to grasp Sondra's hand, and then he completely released the rope, quickly then clenching his other hand over his other. He released a yelp that Sondra was able to hear after he had let go of the rope with both of his hands, but Sondra didn't mind one bit. Using her free arm, her other one being clenched with a nervous grip by Johnny's hands, Sondra swung her free arm down around Johnny's waist, which made Johnny slightly chuckle a bit, and the fourteen-year-old Regular pulled him over the railing, helping him onto his feet until she finally released him from her arms.

Johnny dusted off his hands, because that rope was a little dirty, and Sondra pulled up the rope so nobody else could come and climb up if they were just exploring the woods. Within Sondra's mind, she thought about Johnny's sweet and handsome little chuckles, which made her face bright up with a bright, bright red shade, and she slightly grinned. When she finished pulling the rope up, she turned around to see Johnny just standing there, an amazed look now on his face as the soft breeze brushed through his heavily hair-greased, jet-black hair, and a big, handsome smile flashed across his face.

"...Wow...what a view..." Johnny sighed happily, and Sondra walked over to his side, then gazed off the pink porch to see the awesome and beautiful view of the whole woods, including the open green field, and even a bit of the town, mostly the Greasers territory.

"I told you it was worth the climb, Johnnycake." Sondra reminded, and not knowing what else she could say, she just gently placed her arm around Johnny's waist again.

"Wait! Don't do that!"

Sondra gazed at the eldest Cade, her eyes now slightly big, thinking to herself worriedly that she must've done something to hurt him. But then, Sondra found out what the real 'problem' was when she attempted doing the same thing again, and Johnny let out some more soft laughs. Sondra, for the first time ever in front of a Greaser, smirked, and heck, even her smirk was pretty.

"Oh, somebody is ticklish!" Sondra giggled in a pretty joking matter.

"I am not!" Johnny objected, but his smile was giving him away, and when he turned his head to keep his grin away from Sondra's sight, he ended up being attacked by the fourteen-year-old girl, her wiggling her fingers into his sides, making the eldest Cade burst into handsome laughter for about ten seconds. After the ten or so seconds, Johnny was able to gain his freedom back, and he smirked himself.

"How 'bout you?" Johnny snickered, and Sondra's eyes grew big a bit as her own smirk faded from her face, knowing instantly what Johnny had in mind of doing.

"No! I'm not! Don't even think about it, Johnny!" Sondra ordered, but Johnny just chuckled and playfully rolled his eyes at her shy warning. Before Sondra could see it coming with her own pale blue eyes, Johnny had her by his arms now locked around her waist, and he was tickling away like there was no tomorrow. Sondra's eyes clenched shut as she tried her best to bite her tongue and not allow herself to laugh, but she just couldn't help it, and she beautifully and cutely begged and pleaded for Johnny to stop after about what felt like hours, but was truly only twenty or so seconds. Johnny finally let up as he playfully rolled his eyes again, and he chuckled some more at the sight of Sondra huffing and puffing, catching her breath.

"You know something, Baby? You...actually have...a very nice laugh..." Johnny shyly spoke up. Caught off guard and now completely surprised, Sondra gazed up at the eldest Cade and watched as his face lit up bright, bright red, and his eyes slimly widened. Shyly, but cutely at the same time, the fourteen-year-old Regular grinned as her eyes glew with joy, and she brushed her bangs out of her face after they slightly dangled over her eyes.

"...You really think so, Johnnycake?" Sondra asked, and Johnny's face instantly grew redder. The only thing he could do was nod his head, feeling to nervous on the inside about what Sondra was properly thinking after he said that about her. But to Johnny's surprise, Sondra's smile grew even more dazzling as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear and nodded her head a couple times herself.

"Thanks, Johnny..." Sondra thanked "...you actually have a sweet laugh yourself..."

"...You think so?" Johnny hesitated for a moment after hearing the compliment, but then he shyly grinned a little and asked that question.

"...Yeah." Sondra bowed her head, and about five seconds later to her shocking surprise, she felt the softness and gentleness of Johnny's hand now brushed up against her cheek. The fourteen-year-old girl gazed up and noticed Johnny now standing directly in front of her right there on the small, pink porch of the tree house. Sondra's face started heating up, and she took in and let out soft, but deep breaths. Gently, Sondra touched and carefully clenched Johnny's wrist, and the two of them gazed into each others eyes as the breeze continued to gently blow and whistle through the trees, making Sondra's and Johnny's hair sway a bit. Silence and nothing but complete silence formed between the two teenagers, and before either of them could see it coming, both of them shut their eyes as they began slowly leaning towards each other.

Suddenly though, some birds sang their chirps up in the air, and whatever Johnny and Sondra were about to do, the two of them quickly opened their eyes back up and Johnny took his hand down from Sondra's cheek, just as she released his wrist, and the two of them apologized to each other, not understanding what just happened between them when those birds flew by and sang their noises, causing the two of them to break it up before whatever was about to happen, actually happen.

"Um...so..." Johnny shrugged his shoulders as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. His cheeks were now burning up, and his eyes were sparking off nothing but complete shyness, just like Sondra was now doing, completely heating up with her eyes glimmering off nothing but shyness as well.

"Want to start tutoring me now?" Sondra asked.

"Yeah, let's do that." Johnny nodded his head, and he watched as Sondra nodded one single time after him, right before he watched her walk past him, then enter the small tree house through the hollow doorway that was carved out completely right there in the corner. Johnny followed Sondra's example and walked into the tree house through the completely hollow doorway, and when Johnny entered the tree house, he couldn't believe all that he was seeing.

The wooden walls on the inside were painted too, but these ones being different colors. The floor was painted purple, the ceiling was painted lavender, the right wall was painted red, and lastly, the left wall was painted a light baby blue. The wood was still chipping on the inside of the tree house, and the colors of the paint were dying away, but you could still see them fading. Many old toys were scattered around the floor, and there were even some shelves that were built into the tree house, which some held more old and worn out toys, while others held up picture frames that had none other then pictures in them. Many pictures were taped on the walls, while other spots of the walls were covered by chalk drawings that looked like they were designed by a little child, or little children, and they were unfortuently fading a bit as well.

Johnny looked down at the purple painted floor of the tree house, gazing at different cards from different card games spread around, and then he gazed back up to see Sondra setting up her math book and math notebook down on this old, little, and slightly dusty tea party table, while she scootched over two matching chairs over to the little table, dusting them off while she was at it.

"...How long has this tree house been abandoned, Baby?" Johnny concerndly asked as he scooped up a old and worn out teddy from the wooden floor, and he held it in his hands, instantly knowing that it must've belonged to some little child, and he gently touched the part of the teddy bears face where the one of the black button eyes were missing. Then, he did the same to the parts where he saw some stuffing peaking out from the brown, fuzzy fabric, before he gently pushed the white stuffing back into the little teddy bear, and then sat it back down on the floor.

"...It hasn't actually been abandoned, Johnnycake...forgive me for the mess, please...I forgot how long that this tree house has been 'round..." Sondra sighed, nearly so close to sound like she was speaking to herself, but she knew that Johnny could hear everything that she was saying.

"How long has it actually been exsisting?" Johnny asked, and Sondra instantly knew that he was referring to the tree house.

"...Ten straight years." Sondra answered as she picked up and blew off the dust from a small vase that was resting on the tea party table, and then she couldn't help herself to cough a couple times from the dust flying off from it. Johnny only stared, now looking completely surprised from hearing how long the tree house has been around, and Sondra placed the vase up on one of the shelves.

"Ten years?!" Johnny asked, his voice completely filled with such surprised thoughts and feelings.

"Yep," Sondra nodded her head. "Ever sense I was a four-year-old kid, this thing has been up here in these trees."

"...Man...now _that's _tuff..." Johnny said as he continued to gaze all around the tree house, not minding one bit how old and dusty it was. He actually admired it, because he felt safe for a change, considering that he and his sisters are abused at their place, and anywhere else in town, even the Curtis's house, there were fights and arguements going on. But in that tree house with Sondra, Johnny actually felt different...and he liked it.

"Um...Johnny-"

"You don't know what tuff means, don't you?"

"...Yeah, I don't..."

Sondra sighed as she embarrassedly rubbed the back of her neck, but to her surprise for about the millionth time that day, Johnny actually grinned at her, as he leaned against the wall with his hands now jammed in his jean jackets pockets.

"The meaning of the word tuff is simple. Again, it's mainly among only the Greasers, and it means 'cool'. So, I was saying that it's cool how this tree house has been up for ten years straight." Johnny explained.

Sondra grew a weak smile that time. "Yeah, it's mighty tuff then...considering how this tree house even got here..." Sondra muttered her last words to herself so Johnny wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Hey, Baby," Johnny asked "who's this in this picture?"

"Oh, that's Peter before he got his hair dyed. It's usually light brown, but he dyed it to ash-black." Sondra answered.

"And how about this guy?" Johnny had pointed to a new picture, and Sondra grinned a little bit.

"That's Eric. He's a real handsome boy, and he's very kind and a sweet one. He's always there for you through the thick and thin, and he understands pretty much everyone, unless you get on his angry side."

"And what about these two girls with Rebecca?"

"Maddy and Savannah. Yeah, the three of them have been best friends for as long as the three of them could remember combinded together. Rebecca is certainly golden and beautiful, and Maddy loves carrying on the sports type of gene in her family, while Savannah gives so many great ideas and suggestions for people to do and whatnot. The three of them are certainly tuff."

However, Johnny then pointed to a picture...making Sondra completely tense up as her eyes shot huge...wishing deeply that Johnny wouldn't dare to ask about that one...

**A/N: Hm, what picture is Johnny now asking about? Why is Sondra growing nervous because of it? Well, you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see! **

**Also, yes, Rebecca, Peter, Charlie, Maddy, Savannah, and Eric are all great and golden friends of mine! I seriously don't know what I'd do without 'em! You all rock, guys! :')**

**I'll read yawl in the next chapter now! :D :D :D :D**


	10. Attempt to Tutor for the First Time Ever

**A/N: Hey, hi, yo, everybody-o! Not much to say here, unless it's thank you all for the wonderful favorites and reviews, and anytime any of you have any suggestions, go right on ahead and write them in the reviews, or you can message me! I can't promise that they'll end up in the story, but we'll see! Now, it's time to see if Sondra will understand her math tutoring from Johnny...and about that picture that Johnny had pointed out in the last chapter that made Sondra very nervous...enjoy chapter 10 now! Yehaw! My first chapter with double numbers! Wahoo! :D :)**

_Chapter 10_

"..Who is this boy, Baby? And how about that little girl he has standing next to him? Is that you from when you were a little girl?" Johnny went on with some more questions, until Sondra finally walked up to him and stood by his side, the two of them now keeping quiet as they gazed at one of the many pictures that were taped to the tree houses wall. The boy that Johnny was asking about had smooth and gentle white skin, sweet pale blue eyes, and the same golden blonde hair that matched Sondra's hair color. Man, that boy sure was handsome, and his great big and bright smile proved you that every single time you gazed at that picture of him.

"...His hair looks like it's a little long for a boys..." Johnny pointed out, and he was correct. Whoever that boy was in the picture with that little girl standing by his side with his hands on her shoulders, his hair was actually the same length as Johnny's hair was. The only difference was that, that boys hair was golden blonde, and Johnny's was jet-black.

Sondra secretly cringed a bit at the memory of who that boy was, so she quickly turned her attention down to the little girl that was standing there beside him, but that sure as heck didn't work one bit. It only made Sondra tense up a little bit more, as her blood felt like it turned into an icy cold river, and she could've sworn her heart felt like it was about to explode from aching so much from bad thoughts and old memories of the dark past swarming around her like billions of bees, stinging her hard and aching her even more.

However, Johnny didn't notice. He was too busy still being lost in the picture.

"Hm..." Johnny was in deep thinking. He scratched his bruise again, keeping his black eyes on that young mans face, knowing he's seen a smile so bright like that somewhere before, and that golden blonde hair shine, while he also witnessed the dazzling pale blue eyes. "...Is that boy wearing..._hair-grease _in his hair?!" Johnny suddenly was all surprised, and when he shot his attention over to Sondra, she was now having her right hand on her left shoulder, and her left hand on her right side. Her eyes were now huge and filled with sorrow, and Johnny watched with absolute concern as Sondra took down a hearable gulp to help clear the big lump that was now resting within her throat.

"...Yes..." Sondra then admitted, answering Johnny's question with a couple nods of her head as well. "...That boy was a Greaser...but he wasn't just a Greaser..."

"_Was? Wasn't?_" Johnny questioned those two echoing words to himself in his mind. "...Who was he then?" Johnny then dared to ask out loud, and he watched as Sondra's eyes started filling up with some tears around its edges, as she took in a deep breath, then let it out, both from her mouth, and heck, it was a mighty shaky breath.

"...Mine and Iris's brother...Gabriel..." Sondra confessed, and right after hearing those words come out of her mouth, Johnny's eyes shot huge, properly bigger then ever before, and his heart felt like it had taken a trip to China from being so shocked and startled at Sondra's reply. At that moment, Johnny just wished that he would've kept his mouth shut, because he certainly wasn't expecting that.

"You and Iris had a brother?!" Johnny gasped as he brushed his bangs out from his face, since they were dangling in front of his eyes, and blocking his view of Sondra when he wanted to actually be looking at her when they were talking about this subject.

"...Yes..." Sondra sighed "...his nickname was Gabe, or sometimes Iris and I would joke around and call him Gabby, for fun and whatnot...God, Gabe was such a fun and adventerous brother...he loved me and Iris to plain death...and he used to tell us all the time that whatever situation we got caught in, he would allow himself to take it to keep Iris and myself safe...and...yes, Johnnycake...that little girl in the picture is me when I was only three-going-on-four...before Gabriel _built _this very tree house for my fourth birthday...allowing me and Iris to pick the colors for the painting and whatnot...so...that's why I think this tree house is so wonderful and special, Johnnycake...ya dig?"

Sondra trotted off with her speaking, sighing at the many pictures that actually had Gabriel in them, and Johnny could've sworn that a loud crack had echoed throughout the small tree house. Johnnycake touched his chest, claiming that, that snap was his heart ripping in half. He couldn't imagine losing neither Cassidy or Jocelyn, but whatever happened to Gabriel, it must've been pretty bad to get Sondra so emotional in less then a minute. Johnny took a single gaze around the tree house again, now thinking about Gabriel as he did so, and now knew for a fact if it wasn't for the eldest Prescott, that tree house wouldn't even be there.

"..Can I ask...what happened to Gabriel? Was he drafted?" Johnny hesitantly and nervously asked, still swearing to himself that he could hear and feel his heart snapping.

"_I wish he was drafted!_" Sondra bellowed to herself in her head, right before she closed her eyes and shook her head at Johnny's question. "No, he's dead."

"What?!" Johnny gasped in disbelief, but all he got in response to that was more regretful nods from Sondra. "But...how?! He doesn't even look...older then...how?!"

"He was 'sweet 16', Johnnycake...and...um...uh..." Sondra nervously gulped, remembering how Gabriel actually moved on up to the next world...and man, it wasn't a great thing to witness one bit. "Gabe was...uh...he had...cancer." Sondra informed Johnny, who couldn't believe the answer, because Gabriel was still so young to actually die from something like that, but Johnny knew that it was possible. But...if it was just cancer that Gabriel died from...how could Sondra actually witness it? And...why was she stuttering about it? Hm...something wasn't right about this whole 'Gabriel dying from cancer' thing...

"...Man, Baby...I'm so sorry..." Johnny apologized, and he jammed his hands into his jean jackets pockets and sighed before going on with anymore words. "...I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no, Johnnycake...it's fine...but, uh..." Sondra sighed, feeling guilt overwhelming and tugging at her heart. "...Want to just tutor some now?"

"...Yeah, sure..." Johnny figured that, that would be a good time to change the topic, and it was the main reason that he and Sondra had traveled out into the woods and to that tree house in the first place. Johnny _had _to tutor her. And so, Johnny took a gentle seat in the old chair while Sondra sat down in the matching one that was across the tea party table from him, and she watched as Johnny picked up her pencil, opened up to a clean sheet of paper in her math notebook, then started doodling down his own problems and directions about the chapter that the two of them were on in math.

Hours past, and the clock struck 5:45, but Sondra didn't need to get going to Charlie's house for another fifthteen minutes, and she was still sitting there at the tea party table, filled with both frusteration and embarrassment, because she was still not understanding a single thing that Johnny was trying to explain to her.

"Ugh! This is hopeless! Johnnycake, there's no way I can get this! No way at all! I'm just dumb!" Sondra cried out, ruffling her hands through her golden blonde hair as her face burned up, and some tears began forming in the corners of her pale blue eyes.

"Oh, come on now, Baby. Don't be like that. It takes time to understand this stuff. Just try it again, and allow me to explain it once more." Johnny instructed, and Sondra only sighed as she nodded her head, keeping her eyes on Johnny's hand as he pointed the pencil at different directions and steps that he had wrote down in her math notebook to help her with this chapter at least a little bit better.

"Okay, Baby," Johnny stated "if A square plus B square equals C square, and you take away B square to end up adding A square and C square together, until you take away whatever you got after adding A and C square both together, what do you need to find?"

Sondra rolled her eyes at her own annoyed anger as she let out a sigh, and smacked her hand straight onto her forehead.

"A gun! This is hopeless!" Sondra complained. Johnny pouted, his shimmering black eyes glimmering off plead, and he sighed as he rested the pencil back down on the old tea party table. Embarrassedly, Sondra rubbed the back of her neck and frowned herself, as she felt her cheeks burn up again, and she released a sigh from her lips.

"Face it, Johnny," Sondra instructed "you're the Greaser who's stuck with me, the hopelessly dumb and stupid Regular!"

"You're _not _dumb or stupid!" Johnny exclaimed, his voice now sort of stern and firm, but he was only acting like that because he wanted to get that message through Sondra's head. Heck, Johnny didn't think she was dumb or stupid one bit, nor was she ridiculous or even ugly in his opinion. Others mock Sondra for her looks and whatnot just because she's a Regular, or what others call sometimes 'Stranger', but...Johnny actually thought that she was...goldenly sweet...and dazzingly...beautiful.

"Baby, you're just having a rough time understanding this, and that's totally fine. It takes time for some people to get this stuff, and I am _not _stuck with you. I actually _like _being your tutor here!" Johnny pointed out, and Sondra could've sworn she felt her heart pop right out of her chest just like in the cartoons, because she certainly wasn't expecting Johnny, a very kind and not to mention, sort of cute, Greaser, actually like tutoring her, some run-down looking Regular.

"...You sure didn't seem like you liked the idea of it at lunch today..." Sondra sighed. Johnny took a moment to take in and digest what he just heard, and after he got a hold of himself with making sure that he heard Sondra correctly, he felt a huge knot grow tight as it knotted up in his stomach as a lump formed in his throat, and his face lit up with that shade of a bright, bright red again. He seriously wished that he could've taken that memory back, so it never happened and he wouldn't be embarrassed, Sondra wouldn't be so emotional, and Kitten, Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit wouldn't be so concerned.

"Well...maybe that's because...ugh...I didn't tell you this because I thought it was too embarrassing...but...I've never actually been...alone with a girl before..." Johnny admitted, locking his hands over his face to hide his embarrassment the best he could, but he was starting to tremble a bit so much that it was a pretty obvious fact. Without a moment of hesitation, after hearing those words come out of Johnny's mouth, Sondra's eyes shot huge as her whole body seemed to heat up and even blush, because now it was her who was acting so embarrassed.

"You...what?!" Sondra gasped, half nervous/half humiliated, having a truly hard time with actually believing that fact because...she honestly thought...what kind of girl wouldn't want to be seen or would want to hang out with Johnny? So what it he was a Greaser, and so what if he was so many mysterious injuries once in awhile that were actually noticeable...he was still...a very kind and gentle teenager. Sondra honestly thought all of that about him.

"...Yeah...I was never alone with a girl before, not counting my little sisters, and I haven't even been alone with my friend, Kitten, and I swear, she's a very beautiful and very sweet girl." Johnny explained, a smile tugging at his lips as his eyes sparked up with joy and happiness. Sondra took a moment, not to mention that she needed a moment to think clearly about how Johnny described this Kitten girl, whom Sondra never met, but she instantly knew that she must've been a Greaser. The fourteen-year-old girls eyes narrowed in an annoyed/angry manner, and her cheeks flushed with the color of red, as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was now thinking heavily about Kitten, knowing for a fact that Johnny must've liked her a whole lot to be calling her beautiful and very sweet. Sondra didn't know why, but she just began feeling upset after hearing those words about Kitten come out of Johnny's mouth.

"...This girls name is Kitten, huh? What's she look like?" Sondra asked, her voice slightly mumbling and grumbling with slight anger. Confusedly, Johnny cocked an eyebrow as he leaned forward, his head prompted up on his arms as he and Sondra gazed into each others eyes, Johnny's filled with concern and Sondra's filled with some anger, but mainly a different kind of concern, like the kind that fills you when you're annoyed about something.

"...Um, she has long, silky, pretty ginger-colored hair, and she has very smooth white skin, while her eyes are like two rare and shimmering emeralds. She's thirteen years old, but she's a little bit taller for her age." Johnny described, and Sondra's cheeks grew redder a bit, which made Johnny even more concerned. "Are you okay?" Johnny asked after about ten silent seconds past with Sondra's face only growing more red after he shared about what Kitten looked like.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Johnnycake...I'm absoluetly perfect..." Sondra grumbled, tossing her arms across her chest, and she could feel her cheeks feeling like they were flames of fire, because...she just didn't like it when Johnny talked about other girls that he thought were beautiful. Being sweet, kind, funny, smart, anything like that, was absoluetly fine to Sondra to take in, but when Johnny said that he thought about other females that were gorgeous or something, Sondra just got this strange anger suddenly hit her. But not towards Johnny, of course. It was at whoever he was chatting about, and in this case, it was Kitten Elizabeth Andrews, the Greasers oldest female gang member.

"...Was it something I said?" Johnny nervously and shyly asked, and Sondra began feeling guilty when she watched his pout tug and form on his lips, while his shimmering and adorable black eyes filled up with sorrow plead.

"No, Johnny. Of course not. I'm seriously alright...I'm just...nervous about overwhelmed with this math and whatnot." Sondra lied, and she absoluetly _hated _to lie, but she didn't want to tell Johnny that she didn't know why she just didn't adore it one bit when he called other girls pretty.

"Oh, really?" Johnnycake's pout instantly curled up into a cute, small grin of relief in thinking that he wasn't the reason why Sondra was suddenly looking red, and the eldest Cade gazed down at Sondra's math book and math notebook that were both opened for a couple of seconds, right before he decided to close them, which Sondra grew sort of confused, but mainly surprised over.

Sondra's face started cooling off, and she forced a small, pretty smile to form on her face when her eyes met Johnny's, not that she couldn't help herself because she thought that Johnny was super sweet and kind. Quietness formed between the two of them, and before Sondra could see it coming, Johnny's hand was now gently brushing against her cheek again. Nothing but dead silence was swimming throughout the tree house between the two teenages, and Sondra's and Johnny's eyes were now relaxingly closed, as the two of them began slowly leaning into each other again. However, before Johnny and/or Sondra saw, or in this case, heard, it coming, a small click was suddenly heard, and Johnny and Sondra both snapped out of it. The two of them reopened their eyes to gaze down at the floor at the same time to realize that Sondra's pencil had rolled off of the table and hit the tree houses floor.

"Oh." Johnny and Sondra said at the same time, and Johnny took his hand down from Sondra's cheek to bend down and retrieve the pencil, but at the same time, Sondra's hand reached down. Johnny and Sondra both looked back into each others eyes whence they realized that their hands were now touching when they both bent down in their chairs to get Sondra's pencil back from the floor. Johnny slightly smiled as Sondra's face flushed a bright, bright red, and she quickly pulled her hand away from resting on top of Johnny's.

"I'm so sorry, Johnny." Sondra sighed, now holding both of her hands together and close to her chest, resting over her heart.

"Sorry for what, Baby? It was nothin'. You didn't do anythin' wrong. We both were just so happening to try to retrieve your pencil. It's not like you punched me or anything." Johnny grinned a little bit more, but then gazed over his shoulder so he wouldn't look at Sondra, or at least in her direction, when he mumbled to himself under his breath, "...I'm used to being hit and kicked all the time anyway..."

Sondra didn't say anything back, still keeping her hands resting over her heart as she watched Johnny pick her pencil back up from the floor, then rest it back on the dusty tea party table.

"...Excuse me..." Sondra sighed, and she stood up from her chair, dusting herself off before she headed out the tree houses empty doorway...yeah, Sondra thought to herself as she gazed at the view of the woods, while the breeze gently blew her hair...she was nothing but a dumb Regular...and Johnny was a sweet and sort of cute Greaser...why would he want to tutor me, Sondra asked herself in her mind, and some tears began forming in her pale blue eyes.

**A/N: Aw, Sondra's not feeling confident, is she? She still thinks that Johnny doesn't want to tutor her. How will that go? Will Johnny comfort her, or just leave her alone? Please review! Please! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, pretty please! **

**Another special thanks goes out to my great, tuff, and golden friends: Rebecca, Charlie, Peter, Eric, Savannah, Maddy, Jasmion, Stacey, and Brian, who I couldn't live without! Without them talking to me, I might've lost my interest of writing! They helped me through this, so I give them the tuff and golden feelings that they deserve! Thanks, guys! You all ROCK! :D :) :')**

**Well, I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	11. More Bonding Time

**A/N: Hi, everyone! Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for all of the favorites and reviews, and I thank my g reat friends for talking with me and ha v ing me keep going with my writing! You a ll are the best! I adore each and eve ry one of you! Now, enjoy chapter 11! :D **

_Chapter 11_

"Baby? Are you alright?"

There Sondra was, still standing out on the pink porch of her and Iris's tree house. Her golden blonde hair was flowing a bit in the cool breeze as tears started slightly dripping down her face, but s he quickly wiped them away when she heard Johnny's voice. He was coming out there right after he noticed her leave the tea party table from their tutoring, and Sondra didn't want Johnny to see her crying, because she was pretty sure that he would have a whole lot more questions to ask her sooner or later. Sondra knew how many secrets that she was containing, and she desperatly hated the fact that she _used to be a Greaser_. Well, sort of. Gabriel was a Greaser, and Sondra was thinking to become one, but after Gabriel died, Sondra was told that she wasn't allowed to become a Greaser...and then...something else happened...her and Iris had began...

"Baby?" Johnny asked, leaning in the doorway of the tree house with his hands stuffed into his jean jackets pockets, and he had complete plead and concern locked up in his adorable black eyes.

"..Yeah, Johnny...I'm alright..." Sondra promised, but her voice was sighing, and Johnny instantly knew that she wasn't telling the truth.

"Are you sure?" Johnny asked as he walked out from leaning in the hollow doorway of the tree house, and he stood there by Sondra's side. However, Sondra didn't bother to reply this time, and she gazed down at her feet. Johnny kept his eyes on the fourteen-year-old girl, realizing a wet tear drip its way out from one of her closed eyes. Sondra sniffled a bit, but to her surprise, Johnny reached a cross the small inches that was inbetween him and Sondra, and he gently touched her cheek, wiping away her single tear with a single, gentle swipe of his thumb.

Sondra gazed directly at the eldest Cade , her eyes filled with surprised thougts and feelings as he gently stroked her cheek for about five seconds, wiping away all the tears from her face very gently as he stared completely lost in Sondra's pale blue eyes, glimmering with beauty as the last remains of her tears in her eyes dried up, and Johnny took his hand down from Sondra's cheek.

"...Can we take a break with tutoring?" Sondra asked, desperately hoping that t he response to her question would be a y es.

Johnny then instantly nodded his head, a nd Sondra filled up with absolute relief . "I was just thinking the same thing. W e can continue it tomorrow if you wan t."

"...Yeah...that seems okay with me..." Sondra approved with a single shrug of her shoulders. "But...I don't need to be at Charlie's place for another ten or so minutes...what can we do?"

"Well..." Johnny took in a deep breath a nd let it out, and Sondra instantly knew that he had something on his mind to do. "..We could..."

Man, Sondra thought to herself as she just kept her eyes on Johnny. She remembered in pretty much all of the movies that she's seen with the actor and actress in hers and Johnny's spots, every time the boy suggested to do something...it would involve making out, or 'going overboard' with romance. But Sondra knew that Johnny wasn't like that. He wasn't one of those types of boys who _wanted _that kind of attention, which was half of the male Socs population. Johnny was just one of those boys who wants to stay back in the shade and blend in with the background...and Sondra knew that she was that type of girl who didn't want to be noticed like that either, nor really noticed at all. Wow, Sondra then told herself in her mind. Johnnycake and I actually _do _have so much in common.

"What do you have in mind of doing, Johnny?" Sondra came out and asked after hesitating for a couple of moments.

Johnny made a face, but not in a bad way or anything like that. He was actually sort of smirking, and boy, did he smirk handsome or what?!

"...Come meet Darry, Ponyboy and Sodapop's oldest brother. And come see ol' Dallas." Johnny instructed.

Sondra's eyes instantly shot huge as her heart took one major leap in her chest after hearing those words come out of Johnny's mouth.

"Winston?!" Sondra gulped, referring to Dally. Johnny nodded his head, obviously not needing a single moment to think that question through.

"Yes, Dallas Winston. But don't be fooled by him. You just got to get on his good side." Johnny informed.

Sondra confusedly cocked an eyebrow. "...Dallas Winston has a _good_ side?" she then asked, half confused/half shocked/half surprised, and all in one.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. All tough Greasers have good sides, whether you see them or witness them or none of thee above."

"But...you don't seem to have an angry side at all, Johnnycake..."

Johnny instantly let out a single laugh as he gazed down at his feet, watching one of them gently brush around on the pink-painted wood of the tree houses porch, while he connected his hands behind his back. His smirk was now tugging and curling up on his lips again, and his eyes were shimmering off more laughter then ever before when he was with Sondra.

"That's just because you've never witnessed my rough side, Baby...and let's just pray that you never have to." Johnnycake slightly chuckled his words, and he was paying too much attention on his hardcore side that he didn't realize how uncomfortable Sondra was now seeming.

"So...all Greasers have dark sides _and _bright sides?" Sondra asked.

"Yes." Johnny nodded his head.

"...Even Dallas Winston?" Man, Sondra was certainly surprised to hear that, even coming from one of the other Greasers.

"Yes, even 'ol Dally has a bright side, but his is harder to dig into."

Sondra couldn't help herself to slightly cringe and gulp at the thought of actually getting used to Dallas Winston, and she was completely frightened of Greasers like them. But Johnny was different. He wasn't all rough and tough. Well, at least not all the time, unless you got on his furious side, but hardly anyone realized Johnny Cade had an angry side. That was because he rarely got ticked off.

"Everything will be fine, Baby. I promise. So, can you _please _come on and meet Darry and Dallas?" Johnny pleaded.

"..Well...Johnnycake, I-" Sondra tried telling Johnny that she didn't feel safe or comfortable with going to visit Darry and Dally, but mainly Dallas.

"Please, Baby! Please!" Johnny connected his hands together and did this adorable puppy-dog eyes, along with his lip quivering a bit. Sondra knew that he was trying to string her in...and man, was he doing a great, and down-right cute job, Sondra thought to herself as her face started to feel like it was heating up with that shade of light, light red again.

"Alright, fine," Sondra gave in, holding her hands up to her shoulders in a surrendering way, a trick that she had picked up from Peter. "We better get going now, because ten minutes go by fast."

Johnny nodded his head with absolute agreement, flashing a big and handsome smile off at the oldest female Prescott as he placed his arms back down at her sides. "The gang is at none other then the Curtis's house, and it's about a five minute walk from here, so five more minutes will be leftover for you to meet Darry and Dallas. That's plently of time when you're talking to Greasers, believe it or not."

Sondra only nodded her head at that, trying to shake off the fact that she was actually going to meet Dallas Winston face to face again. Considering how kind and sweet Ponyboy and Soda were, Sondra wasn't that concerned or worried about what Darry would possibly be like towards her, even though he was the Greasers leader. Sondra only feared Dallas Winston...and what Dallas Winston adored was frightening people, especially the Regulars...and Dallas Winston _always _gets what he wants.

Johnny helped Sondra gather back up and pack away all of her math supplies, and after that, Sondra had to help the eldest Curtis climb back down from the tree house, considering that Johnny was totally terrified of heights, and climbing down the rope was a complete different process then climbing up. Climbing down was much tougher. Nevertheless, Johnny did it, and he and Sondra walked together side by side, keeping silent as they left the woods and Sondra stuck even closer to Johnny after realizing that they were back on Greasers territory.

"...What's your gang like?" Johnny's voice quietly spoke up after the two or so straight minutes of nothing but dead-silence between him and Sondra.

"What?" Sondra shrugged her shoulders as she cocked an eyebrow in a confused manner.

"You know.._your _gang...other then Rebecca and Charlie, how are these Peter, Maddy, Savnnah, and Eric people?" Johnny broke down his question in a better worded manner. Sondra remembered her mini 'gang', even though it wasn't exactly a gang, because Regulars weren't supposed to have gangs, but that didn't stop the fourteen-year-old Regular from growing her small, shy, and pretty grin across her face at just the thought of her amazingly golden and tuff friends.

Sondra fixed her collar of her blue jeans jacket around her neck a bit better, still grinning when thinking about her 'gang'.

"There's also Stacyann and Brian, Johnnycake. You didn't see their pictures, but trust me, they were there." Sondra assured.

"What?" Johnny said with a smile upon his face, and his voice was happy when hearing that Sondra actually _did _have some friends who were also Regulars, considering Regulars were marked with the rumor with them only having themselves to depend on and whatnot.

Sondra giggled a bit as she nodded her head a few times. "But we simply just call Stacyann Stacy or Stace for short. And there's also Jamison, who we call Jamie for just a friendly nickname, but Jamison is out of the state on vacation at the moment. Won't be back for a few days, but it's fine."

Johnny's smile grew brighter and even more handsome, which made Sondra's face heat up bright, bright red, and she started to quietly question herself while she was suddenly starting to feel so, so hot.

"Wow, Baby...you sure are...popular..." Johnny said, still grinning brightly and cutely as he stared into Sondra's pale blue eyes, and she gazed back into his sweet and innocent black eyes, while the two of them continued walking down the sidewalk together. The sunset was absoluetly dazzling, the gold, pink, red, purple, and orange shades dancing all throughout the sky as the cool breeze gently whistled and blew in the air. Now _that _was one heck of a romantic-like scene...and Johnny absoluetly adored how the sunsets glorious colors bounced off and shimmered wonderfully in Sondra's pale blue eyes.

"Just because I'm a Regular doesn't mean I can't have friends, Johnnycake...like the dreamy you for example." Sondra shyly grinned again.

Johnny's cheeks instantly stained with the color of a bright, bright red, and his black eyes glew with shyness, but yet happiness at the same time, after he got a moment to take in that not only did Sondra technically state that he was a friend of hers...but she called him dreamy...and Johnny was _never _called dreamy, nor any name like that by anybody. Heck, it did give him these weird fuzzy and warm feelings on the inside, but Johnny didn't quite understand why. Maybe it was because it was Sondra, a Regular whom Johnny thought was actually pretty, who was talking to him.

Johnny stuck his hands into his jean jackets pockets and shrugged his shoulders, trying his best to brush off the sudden hot and fuzzy feelings that were filling up his entire body, especially around his heart, making it feel like to was glowing, but Johnny still didn't get why he was feeling so different all the sudden. At least the cool breeze was gently swaying around in the air, kissing his and Sondra's faces as they continued to walk down the gray sidewalk that seemed to sparkle under the sunsets bright and dancing colors.

The eldest Cade stared down at his old, worn out tennis shoes as they walked back and forth on his feet when he continued down the gray sidewalk beside Sondra, who was staring up in the air at the beautiful colors of the sunset, smiling a bit the entire time, and she pulled a cancer stick out from her pocket, along with her lighter from her other. Considering that all of the Greasers, minus Darry, Cassidy, obviously Jocelyn, and sometimes Kitten, smoked cigarettes, Johnny didn't mind when he smelt the cigarette start to heat up from Sondra's lighter lighting up its one end.

"I'm just saying...everybody says that Regulars can't have friends, because they're not run-down like the Greasers who are 'in desperate need of others', or they're not the Socs, who are just so dang wealthy that they can do whatever they want, when ever they want..." Johnny explained, and he hesitated for a moment, until he slightly perked his head back towards Sondra's direction, while she was too busy blowing perfect smoke rings up in the sky, her dazzling eyes glued on the wonderful colors of the sunset. "...You think I'm dreamy?" Johnny then shyly and hesitantly asked.

Sondra took a long drag of her cigarette, then blew yet another perfect smoke ring from her lips, right before she turned her attention back to Johnny and shyly grinned a bigger, brighter, and extra more beautiful grin that showed her sparkly white teeth at the oldest Cade.

"Well, sure," Sondra nodded her head, her grin shortening, but it continued to tug at the corners of her mouth when she talked. "Why? Don't you get compliments like that?"

"...Not often...no, not at all..." Johnny admitted "I actually find getting compliments uncanny, because I rarely get 'em at all..."

"Oh..." Sondra took down an embarrassed gulp, right before she pulled out another cigarette from her jean jackets pocket and offered it to Johnny. "Want a weed?"

Johnny shook his head. "No thanks. I got a whole pack with me right now, but I'm not in the smoking mood right now. Thanks anyway though, Baby."

Sondra's face heated up with humiliation, and she thought to herself that she was completely stupid to actually ask Johnny if he wanted a cigarette instead of just telling him her true thoughts about him being an actual dreamy and sweet friend.

"...Ask him if he wanted a cigarette at a time like _this_? I just _had _to offer him a smoke! Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!" Sondra bellowed to herself in a soft voice, grumbling her words as she gazed away from Johnnycake, so he wouldn't notice her, and she slipped the single cigarette that she had brought out to offer Johnny back into her pocket.

"What?" Johnny confusedly asked after he heard Sondra mumble and mutter those words to herself.

"Huh? What? Nothing." Sondra shook her head in an innocent way, pretending what she just said never happened, and Johnny just simply shrugged his shoulders. "Johnnycake...I think you're goldenly dreamy..." Sondra came out and said the exact words that was resting on her mind, hesitating for a couple moments before saying anything else, and right after she said those words, she witnessed Johnny's eyes glow with tons of joy when he stared back at her again, and his new handsome smile that exploded across his bright, bright red face said thanks enough in Sondra's mind. Before Johnny could thank her, Sondra released another puff of gray from her mouth after taking another drag of her cigarette, then told him that he was very much welcome and that it was no problem at all.

"So, what 'bout this mini gang of yours? What are your friends like? Are they wild and wreckless like Sodapop Curtis, or wisecrackers like Two-Bit Matthews...or possibly even creative and a shooting star type of person...like you?" Johnny listed, and his face lit up bright, bright red when he took in his own words towards Sondra's personality. The tips of Sondra's ears shaded with the color of a darker red, and Sondra could feel how hot they now were, so she quickly covered her ears with her golden blonde locks of hair, and her heart started beating rapidly in her chest.

Sondra then grinned again, half of it because of Johnny, and the other half being because she was now thinking about her great gang.

The fourteen-year-old Regular shared in complete detail about each of the other Regulars that was in her gang, leaving out Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris because Johnny already knew them simply.

Sondra explained how caring and gentle fifteen-year-old Maddy was, with her shiny strawberry-blonde hair glimmering and flowing all the time, while she shopped till she dropped pretty much 24/7, when ever she had free time. Maddy was the type of girl to call any time you had a fashion problem with clothes, to jewelery, to make-up, and to how to style your hair and nails. Maddy completely adored putting all kinds of great colors and shades and patterns together, while she switched and matched clothes with her gal pals, helping them out with fashion any time they needed help.

Brian, on the other hand, was that kind of boy you wanted to call up any time you were in need of back-up and/or protection. He was that rock-hard type that seemed completely hardcore all the time, but deep inside, he had a true golden heart underneath that hard shell. Brian certainly never dared to crack a book at all, nor would he care for anything that involved writing, but if you needed help with fighting or running track one bit, then seventeen-year-old Brian was your man to go to. He was certainly tough, and a very tuff friend to have.

Stacy...man, she was certainly a golden and beautiful sixteen-year-old girl. If there was one great thing that Stacy was fantastic at, it'd be coming up with great ideas and suggestions for things to do. Stacy was the type of girl who looks sweet and innocent, but if you ticked her off, she'd go right off and pop you like a glass bottle if she had to. Stacy was that typical teenaged girl, whom was cheerful and wonderful to everyone, unless you got on her 'spicy' side, or you treated somebody she desperately cared about like a piece of crap. Any time you needed advice for anything, whether it was school, the person you have a crush on, fears, etc, Stacy was the girl to go to for information. She's always there for you through the thick and thin, just like Rebecca was.

Peter is pretty obvious and easy to explain. He's a wisecracker, who never stops chatting nearly 24/7, and he dyed his hair black when it's actually brunette. If he's not talking, he's smiling his big, handsome, but yet goofy grin, and his amazing green eyes would sparkle amazingly. Peter's a great person to have for story-telling, which is why bringing him on camping trips is certainly one heck of a great thing to do. He certainly does have a handsome laugh, and his jokes are the greatest, especially when you're down. It's either that, or he tickles you until you cry. Yep, Peter's certainly an amazing guy, just like Charlie and the other guys were.

Savannah, on the other hand, was the sixteen-year-old adventerous one. She loved to do sports, and man, she's a golden-hearted winner. You name the sport, and she'll make it a positive truth that she's played it. With Savannah around, nothing is ever boring. It's almost like she's the party animal, next to seventeen-year-old Eric, who's her boyfriend, and he's certainly labeled sexy all around his high school. Once again, just like Charlie, Peter, and the other male Regulars in Sondra's mini 'gang' were.

Lastly, Jamison was that type of person who was quiet a whole lot, but speaks out every once in awhile with the other members of the gang. Any time you wanted a secret to never spill, Jamison is who you wanted to go to. Otherwise, your secret would be out in less then ten seconds. Jamison is such a sweet and caring, shy soul, but just like Stacy, don't tick Jamison off.

"Wow, Baby. Your gang sure is something. All of your friends sound so tuff." Johnny shared his opinion after Sondra wrapped every detail up about her and Iris's friends in their mini 'gang'.

"They certainly are tuff, Johnnycake. Extremely golden friends to have. But we're not exactly a gang...we're just a group of friends who hang out a whole lot." Sondra shrugged her shoulders with a plain innocent look on her face when she and Johnny stared into each others eyes. Sondra pouted a little, then sighed and tossed his cigarette down to the ground, putting it out. "I know that _Socs _say that Regulars can't have friends...but what they don't know won't hurt me...and besides..." Sondra took in and let out a deep breath through her nose before going on. "...Socs are trashy...the Greasers is where it's at...and it's none of the Socs buisness who I hang out with. Ya dig, Johnny?"

"...Wow, Baby..." Johnny was speechless, completely surprised that Sondra had actually said that, considering that Regulars were settled down with rules that they've never heard of, but were spread throughout the town for them to all hear by the Socs. But Sondra couldn't care less. She and Iris had actual friends, and so what if they were way older then the two of them. They were all still human beings that were labeled as Regulars, or Strangers, or just simply the middle-class.

"...Do you think Dallas and Darry will like me?" Sondra asked, changing the topic because she already knew what was running through the sixteen-year-old Greasers head.

Johnny instantly nodded his head after taking in that question. "They'll grow on you, Baby. Don't worry 'bout it, okay? And...if I may say...you're very pretty under the sunset...I dig sunsets."

Sondra immidately froze in her tracks, and Johnny didn't take any hesitation to stop walking himself. The two teenagers gazed into each others eyes, and Johnny realized how Sondra's eyes looked big now, meaning that she was surprised.

"...You dig sunsets, Johnnycake?" Sondra asked, and Johnny nodded his head.

"You think sunsets are cool?"

Johnny nodded again.

"...Wow...I dig 'em, too...they're certainly-"

"Golden." Johnny finished for Sondra, who blushed up a bit and grinned a little as she nodded her head with full agreement to the word that Johnny just used to complete her opinion on sunsets.

"...Oh my god..." Johnny suddenly said, his voice soft as he gently touched Sondra's chin.

"What is it?" Sondra nervously asked, hoping to death that nothing was on her or anything like that, but to her surprise, Johnny actually brushed her cheek once again with his gentle touch, as the soft breeze continued to whistle throughout the air, flowing Sondra's and Johnny's hair a bit.

"...I just realized...you have such...great eyes." Johnny shyly confessed.

"...You really...think so?" Sondra, half surprised/half shocked/half shy, asked, as she gently gripped Johnny's wrist with one of her hands, allowing him to stroke her cheek still.

"...Yeah..." Johnny said.

"...Well you have...great eyes, too..." Sondra shared.

Without anymore words needing to be spoken, the two teenagers were dead-silent, and just like before, the two of them rested their eyes shut and they began slowly leaning into each other. However, Sondra and Johnny both snapped out of it when the breeze blew a little harder just one time, and the two teenagers opened their eyes back up and blushed a bit at each other, right before Johnny took his hand down from Sondra's cheek yet again, and Sondra gently released his wrist.

"Well...um...uh..." Johnny stuttered, shyly scratching the back of his neck.

"Shall we continue our way to the Curtis's house?" Sondra asked.

Johnny snapped his fingers together. "Yes! Let's go! You got to meet Dally and Darry before you head back to Charlie's place!"

"Let's hope they like me..." Sondra grumbled to herself under her breath, referring to Dallas and Darry, and she started walking by Johnny's side again, the two of them continuing on to the Curtis's house.

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's please review and read yawl in the next chapter! And yes, Sondra's 'gang' is my actual friends! :D :D :D :D**


	12. Painful Moments at the Curtis's House

**A/N: Hello, everybody! Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for all of the favorites and reviews, and I thank my great friends for talking with me and having me keep going with my writing! You all are the best! I adore each and every one of you! Now, enjoy chapter 12! :D **

_Chapter 12_

Meanwhile at the Curtis's house, with Johnny and Sondra on their way for her to meet Darry and actually meet Dally, everybody was just busy doing whatever they usually would do at that time of day. Two-Bit was none other then watching Mickey Mouse on the TV as he drank a bottle of beer that was already half drank, and Kitten was sitting next to him, flipping through the pages and reading a book from the Curtis's bookshelf. Steve and Soda were both playfully wrestling each other, while Dallas was chilling in the recliner with his switchblade, using it to clean the dirt out from underneath his nails. Cassidy was sitting at the Curtis's table in their kitchen, doing her homework, as Darry fixed up dinner, which was some roast, corn, and little rolls. Ponyboy had just gotten Jocelyn to fall asleep for her little nap upstairs, and she was now peacefully sleeping on Pony's and Sodapop's bed, while Ponyboy came quietly back downstairs and decided to just relax on the couch inbetween Two-Bit and Kitten.

"Dallas, can you just let that go?!" Steve dared to ask, grabbing Soda and placing him in a headlock, as he playfully noogied his hair, making the second oldest Curtis laugh as he tried to escape. Dally had been going on and on about how much he hated that Johnny was tutoring that Regular who kept bumping into him on the street ever sense he asked about where the oldest Cade was, and Ponyboy told him that he was tutoring Sondra. Dallas instantly demanded by calling her that 'golden blonde Regular that looked like she came off of the street', and Steve secretely rolled his eyes as he told Dally that Johnny didn't think of Sondra that way.

"No, Randle! I won't just let it go! That broad kept bumpin' into me on the street! I understand that Johnnycake has to tutor her, but..._why_, oh _why_, does it have to be _that _golden blonde Regular?!" Dallas objected as he smacked his free hand straight on his forehead. His face was beating bright red, so he was pretty ticked about the whole idea of Johnny tutoring and hanging out with Sondra, and that was only because he hated that Sondra kept bumping into him on the sidewalk just a couple days before.

"But Johnny just so happens to like Baby, Dally." Ponyboy pointed out, his voice cautious, considering he was talking to Dallas Winston.

"I ain't in the mood for one of my best friends to get hurt by a Regular sooner or later." Dally grumbled, growling like a junk-yard dog a bit under his breath when just remembering those pair of pale blue eyes and the short, messy, golden blonde hair of the Regular that kept bumping into him in town.

"Hm, I don't think it's actually like that, Dally..." Two-Bit shared his opinion, drawing everybody that was in the rooms full, undivided attention. The room was now dead-silent, and Two-Bit took a drink of his beer, swallowing what was in his mouth and wiping off the drops that remained on his lips with the back of his free hand before going on with what was now on his mind. "Trust me," Two-Bit continued "I can't believe _I'm _the one who's stating this, but that Baby girl doesn't seem so bad. Ya know what happened? Carla was 'bout to get hauled in by the fuzz when she just simply was walking out of the Dingo, and without any hesitation, that Baby girl, along with two friends of hers, whom are named Charlie and Rebecca, came rushing in and actually lied to the fuzz to keep Carla safe from goin' in."

"Two-Bit, your brain has finally left the building...and after all these years." Dally moaned as he rolled his eyes, instantly giving it away that he didn't believe what Two-Bit just shared about was actually true.

"No, Dally," Steve shook his head after he released Soda from the headlock, then pushed him down on the couch beside Kitten, ending their playful and friendly wrestling. "Believe it or not, Two-Bit is telling the truth. That Baby Regular actually _did _save Carla from being taken away to the slammer, along with these Rebecca and Charlie friends of hers."

"...But that's impossible," Dally grumbled, narrowing his eyes in an angry manner. "...Regulars are no good at lying to the fuzz. That's our thing, a Greasers thing."

"That's what we thought so, too, Dallas." Kitten shared as she closed the book that she was reading, then placed it down on the Curtis's coffee table. "But then we were proved wrong, because Baby, Rebecca, and Charlie made up new names and a whole short plot for what happened at the Dingo, so Carla wouldn't get taken to jail."

Dally rolled his eyes as he pulled out a cigarette and his lighter out from his pocket, sticking the end of his cigarette in his mouth and lighting up the opposite, right before he stuffed his lighter back away into his worn out jeans pockets. Everybody else that was actually in the Curtis's living room with Dallas watched him in complete silence, as he took a long drag of his cancer stick, then gently relaxed his lips and he blew out a gentle puff of gray smoke. Smoking was Dally's second option to help calm himself down. What was his first? Beating somebody up until they were nothing but a part of the earth's core. But Dally knew that Darry wouldn't dare allow him to harm and physically abuse anybody that was in their gang, considering that they've all been best friends since childhood. Not only that, but Dallas didn't actually _want _to beat any of his friends, because none of them were the reason he was now starting to feel full of rage. It was because of Johnny now hanging out with and tutoring Sondra, a Regular.

"...Just like us, the Greasers, and the Socs..." Dally chuckled, right before he took another drag of his cigarette, then released another breath of a gray cloud from his lips. "...The Strangers will _never _mix with us...the Regulars and the Greasers...the Strangers and the Greasers...the middle-class and the Greasers...ha! It just doesn't add up!"

"Dallas!" came Darry's voice, calling out from the kitchen in a slimly warning tone. "You better not be teaching my kid brothers any crap about 'em Regulars!"

"I ain't, Dar!" Dally promised, his voice in its usual flat tone.

"You better not be! Anyway, dinner will be ready in a few!" Darry announced, still being away in the kitchen.

Dallas gave a small, satisfied grin, considering that he was hungry, and he gave his flat, rock-hard stomach a single smack with his free hand. After that, he stuck the end of his cancer stick back into his mouth, then took another drag of it.

"How come if the Socs actually go through just as much as we do," Ponyboy shrugged his shoulders. "Then why can't we actually believe the Regulars have it rough, too?"

"We went over this earlier, Ponyboy!" Dallas reminded, using a bit of a hard voice as he gave the youngest Curtis a stern and pointed look, which instantly made Ponyboy whimper and keep his mouth shut. Sodapop slung a protective arm around his shoulder and held him close, while Kitten narrowed her eyes and glared straight off at Dally.

"If you know what's good for you, Winston," Kitten warned "you'd stop being harsh on Pony just for a simple little question! Otherwise, you'll be dealin' with me!"

"Andrews, things are not completely rough all over!" Dally exclaimed. To be honest, Dallas was actually a little bit afraid of Kitten, because she was one heck of a tough girl. You ticked her off, and you'd most likely wake up in a different state, or possibly underwater. Yeah, _that's _how stern Kitten is if you fill her rage side up to its maximum level. "I bet the Regulars have it made! I admit that they have to work to get what they want, but at least they have their folks around, and they actually love and care 'bout 'em!"

"Really?" Kitten cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "_That's _your best arguement, Dally?"

"Hey, I'm just saying," Dally paused and took another deep breath in of his cigarette, then blew out another puff of a light gray shade from his lips. "My old man abandoned my mom when he found out that she was pregnant with me, and up till this very day, he doesn't give a hang 'bout me, considering he's now remarried and out of Tulsa with some new Soc lady, and they have no children. Meanwhile with my mom, she's spending all of her hours at bars, drinkin' her life away. I bet no Regular has it bad like I do."

Kitten rolled her emerald green eyes, and she stood up from the couch, still having her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at Dallas. "I can't say what being a Regular is like, nor be positive with what their folks are like with them, considering that I'm a Greaser and my parents don't even notice me, but compaired to your folks and the Cade's parents, Dallas, you're parents are angels sent from Heaven." Kitten lectured, her voice slightly stern to only get that message clearly through Dally's skull.

"Kitty-Cat, you should think and remember that according to these Regulars, we're nothing but dark and evil hoods who are wearing orange jumpsuits with different numbers 'cross the back." Dallas informed.

"Aw, come on, Dallas! You don't know if that's true!" Steve came into the conversation to keep a fight from possibly breaking out, and he placed his hands on Kitten's shoulders, slightly squeezing them in order to help Kitten's slight anger and sass to decrease.

Sodapop nodded his head with absolute agreement, while Two-Bit just continued keeping quiet and drinking more of his beer, and Ponyboy only watched.

"Stevie's right, Dally. And besides, I met that Baby girl today when she was walkin' by the DX. She's just a very shy and sensitive girl, not a bad and troubled one at all." Soda described. Kitten clenched her fists together and placed them on her hips, trying her best to tune down her anger on the inside towards Dallas, but the redness that was starting to shade in on her face was giving it away. Steve gently squeezed her shoulders a bit harder, but still carefully so he could continue to try to get her to calm down.

"Yeah," It was then Two-Bit's turn to come into the conversation. He drank the last remains of the clear, brownish liquid from the glass bottle of beer, and then he wiped his mouth with the back of his free hand, standing up on his feet from kicking back on the couch and placing the now empty bottle of beer down on the coffee table before going on with what he wanted to share with the others. "Look, I hate to admit it as much as the next guy, but even though she's a Regular and not a Greaser like us, Baby actually seems pretty tuff. I know I just actually cared to realize her today, but when she was lying to the cops and had her two friends, Rebecca and Charlie lie along with her...man, my heart leaped one heck of a major hop. I swear, my heart properly took a trip to China!"

Dallas crossed his free arm that wasn't holding his cigarette over his stomach and rolled his eyes at what words just came out of Two-Bit's mouth. "Why don't you marry 'er if your heart took one heck of a leap like that, Matthews?" Dally mumbled in an uncaring and flat tone, sticking the end of his cigarette back into his mouth yet again after speaking. Two-Bit wanted to roll his eyes, but he figured it'd be the best thing to not do so, because unless you were Darry Curtis or Kitten Andrews, sassing off to Dallas Winston wasn't properly such a great idea.

"This isn't a joking matter, Dally!" Kitten pointed out.

Dally grinned after he blew a perfect smoke ring. "Of course it ain't..." he snickered, obviously giving it away that he was lying.

"Dally, this is serious. We know that Regulars are _nothing _like us, but we're thankful that they're not like 'em Socs either." Ponyboy then decided to stand up from the couch, while he spoke up with the words that were on his mind.

"You're point bein' what exactly, Pony? They're Regulars, the Socs are the Socs, and we're Greasers..." Dallas shrugged his shoulders in a simple, but yet flat and uncaring way. "What's your point?"

Soda swung his arm back around his kid brothers shoulder and held him close, keeping his handsome eyes on Dally when doing so.

"I believe Ponyboy's trying to explain that, if the Socs have it rough like we do, then the Regulars must have it rough, too." Sodapop explained.

Ponyboy nodded his head. "Exactly." was the only word that he could think of saying in order to back him up at that moment.

Dally scratched his chin, keeping his mouth shut as he took a few more drags of his cigarette, then decided to finally put it out in one of the ashtrays, this one being on the stand beside the recliner, having the phone resting on the opposite side of it. The ordinary scent of ashes and smoke filled the Curtis's living room, but the Greasers were all used to that, but when ever Jocelyn is around, some actual good scents is sprayed around to keep the six-month-old baby girl safe from any ashes and/or smoke.

"I don't believe it until I see it. That's my quote." Dally informed as he rested his hands behind his head and rested his eyes closed to earn just a little bit of rest.

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow in a confused manner and made a confused expression upon his face after he and the others took in and digested Dally's recent words.

"I thought your quote was 'Drink all day, party all night', Dally." Two-Bit shrugged his shoulders, but Dally shook his head.

"It used to be, but now it's 'I don't believe it until I see it', ya dig?" Dallas asked, and Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Sodapop, Steve, and even Kitten each nodded their heads, keeping their mouths shut at that time. Even though Dallas didn't have his eyes open, a smirk spread across his face, and he could just tell that the others who were in the room with him nodded their heads will full agreement on what he just said.

Suddenly, the door of the Curtis's house was heard all throughout the household swinging open, and all of the Greasers that were in the living room turned their full, undivided attention over to the doorway, where they all grew instantly nervous, except Dally, who's eyes were now huge, and his face was starting to turn beating red from both shock and rage. There standing in the doorway of the Curtis's house...was Johnny Cade, who's eyes were now widened, with his face lighting up with the color of a bright, bright red from nervousness. A tight knot was now in the pit of his stomach, and Sondra was facing the doorway, quietly closing the door in order to keep it from slamming shut, considering that she had that habit from doing it all the time she went in and out of her own place.

The smell of ashes and smoke made Sondra's eyes slightly water, as her nose crinkled and she held back her coughs, feeling her face and ears heat up from instantly getting struck with all of the attention that she knew was completely and heavily tensed up within the single room that she just stepped through the front door with Johnny. None other then the Curtis's living room.

"Um...hey, guys...and gal..." Johnny slightly stuttered with his greeting, as his face burned up with his nervousness, but some humiliation added in this time because he absoluetly hated it when everybody had their eyes on him during a serious time. Well, having a Regular over isn't that serious...but if any of the other Greasers around town spotted Sondra hanging out with the Curtis's Greasers gang, then God knows what'll happen. The only thing that's positive is that it won't be pretty one bit.

"Johnnycake, why is _she _here?!" Dallas instantly demanded without any hesitation, not giving the eldest Cade a single chance to introduce Sondra to everyone that was in the room, even though they already knew who she was. Sondra let out a little yelp of nervousness/fear after hearing the sound of Dally's voice, ticked off as ever, and she started to regret how she allowed herself to get sucked into coming over to the Curtis's house. But Sondra couldn't say no to Johnny. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't...his eyes were such filled with plead, and his adorable puppy-dog look was on his face, and...oh god, Sondra thought to herself. She just couldn't say no to Johnnycake!

"Dally, please let me explain!" Johnny begged as he connected his hands together in a pleading form, as if he was begging for mercy for himself.

"Explain what?! What's there to explain?! It looks simple to us that you brought a Regular into our territory, and not to mention our usual hang-out!" Dally grumbled.

"Dallas, that's not all of it though!" Johnny informed, but he simply understood that Dally wouldn't take that into any thought one bit.

"Oh! How much more could there be with a Regular involved?!" Dallas commanded as he threw his arms across his rock-hard chest, and his dark blue eyes flooded with rage, while his face turned redder then ever before. Man, Sondra was terrified, her completely innocent and pretty, pale blue eyes now huger then ever before, while her face brightened up more and more when hearing how ticked off Dally's voice was sounding.

"Dally, come on!" Johnnycake went on pleading. "I was just tutoring her, and then I came up with the idea for her to come here so she could meet Darry and officially meet you!"

Considering that Iris wasn't with Sondra at that time, it was like Dally had never even backed down from the oldest female Prescott, because when he stared into those grayish-whitish eyes of Iris's, glimmering away under the sunlight with what felt like with no life at all, Dally might've not looked like anything was happening to him on the outside, but on the inside, he could feel pity starting to gather around and squeeze his heart. Dallas might've hated little kids, but certain ones he didn't, like Iris because she was blind, and Cassidy and Jocelyn because they were the Cade's, along with Johnny.

"Alright, I hope yawl are hungry, 'cause dinner will be ready shortly. We're having rolls, corn, and ro-" Darry began listing as he walked out from the kitchen and into the now dead-silent living room. The eldest Curtis shut himself up without any hesitation, and his eyes grew big whence they rested on Sondra, who was still not turning around from the door to actually face the many pair of Greaser eyes that were on her, even though she already met all of them, except the eldest Curtis and Dallas Winston. Heck, none of the Greasers needed to see Sondra's face to understand instantly without any hesitation that she wasn't a Greaser or a Soc, but a Regular.

"...Regular?!" Darry then blurted out instead of continuing telling the gang what was going to be for dinner. Sondra's heart tensed up even more, and she took in a deep, quiet, shaky breath, releasing it shakingly through her nose, right before she closed her frightened eyes and forced herself to turn around, allowing the dark and terrifying thoughts about possibly getting beaten up to come to her, because she already knew that Dallas didn't like her, and it would take a bit for him to actually grow to like her. But Darry was different. He really didn't mind if anybody was a Greaser, Soc, or a Regular. As long as you didn't mess with him, his kid brothers, or the rest of the Greasers gang, you'd always be liked by the oldest Curtis. But at that moment, Darry was just too surprised to say anything else, because he never expected to encounter a Regular in his own house.

"...Please..." Sondra gulped as she hesitantly opened her eyes back up, and everybody could see how they were slightly tearful now, but not that much. Every single second that was passing, Sondra was just growing more and more scared, and Johnny was starting to wish to himself that he hadn't have allowed himself to ask Sondra, a Regular, to come to the Curtis's house on Greaser property to meet the leader of the Greasers, Darry Curtis, and officially meet the most violent Greaser, Dallas Winston. Seriously, Johnny thought to himself that he should've known that Dally wouldn't be able to instantly grow on Sondra like he did for certain children, and it was most likely with Dally speaking with the Regular that he's been complaining about for over an hour or so, it wouldn't end up good. Darry, on the other hand, was okay in Johnny's opinion. He didn't really know how Darry would actually handle this, him being the leader and all.

"...Please..." Sondra sighed again, holding back her tears and sniffles when nervously and hesitantly speaking to the Greasers gang in the living room of the Curtis's house. "...Don't call me a Regular...it doesn't make me feel too hot..."

The Greasers each knew how that felt. Being called something that didn't make you feel too hot, obviously, especially by the Socs and a very little amount of sassy Regulars. But Sondra wasn't anything like those kind of Regulars. Neither was Iris, nor Sondra's 'gang', unless you extremely ticked them off, but that was mainly only positive to happen if you ever dared to harm somebody they adore completely in anyway or form.

"Why are you here?" Dallas asked, his voice snarling and growling softly, but angrily at the same time, like a junk-yard pooch. "This ain't your territory! You should be in the center of town, along with the other Regulars!"

It was rare for Regulars to live on either the Greasers or the Socs territory, because the Greasers and the Socs, not only didn't they hate the Regulars guts, but they always thought that the Regulars didn't have any guts of their own to actually do things and talk about certain things that's actually worthy of time in their eyes. After hearing Dallas instruct Sondra as a Regular again, the fourteen-year-old girl clenched his eyes shut in a pleading way, and Johnny could've sworn that he heard her begin to slightly sniffle to herself. Johnny knew how that felt, and all of the other Greasers, including Dallas himself, understood what if felt like to be like...like...an...outsider. That's technically what Regulars were. They were the main, main outsiders, with Greasers stuck in the middle with second place, and the Socs were the high-class preps and whatnot, who referred to the Greasers and Regulars, but mainly the Regulars, as pesants.

"Dally, she kindly asked us to not call her by that label! You should respect that and do what she asks, please!" Johnny blurted out, his voice mumbling a bit, and his tone was filled with both annoyed and slightly angry voices mixed in together. Believe it or not, that was quite a mouthful of sass for Johnny Cade, considering that he rarely talked, and when he did, he was always shy and polite. But in this case, he was shockingly being a bit harsh and completely demanding towards Dally.

Ponyboy's eyes were now huge, and he and Kitten were exchanging such startled expressions, while Two-Bit literally fell back on the couch from being so shocked that it was _Johnny Cade _who just mouthed off to _Dallas Winston_, his own role model. Darry and Soda were just as surprised, their faces red from so much unexpecting shock, and their eyes widened like marbles. Lastly, Steve's mouth was hanging slightly open, and his hand was over his heart, feeling how rapidly fast it was now going and beating, going and beating. Sondra couldn't believe what was happening as much as the next guy, as she hid there behind Johnnycake, too scared to come out from behind him, even though she knew all of the Greasers, except Darry and Dally. She was still dead scared of Dallas...actually...who wasn't in Tulsa?

Dallas was just as surprised in Johnny's sudden behavior, and he really wanted to allow his mouth to fall open while his eyes shoot huge, but he wouldn't allow himself to act so shocked in front of all of his best pals. Instead, Dally crossed his tough arms across his rock-hard chest and narrowed his eyes, as his face turned red, and he scrunched up his nose in an angry manner.

"Oh, fine! How 'bout I call her the girl who isn't a Greaser or a Soc?!" Dally growled.

"Cut it out, Dallas!" Johnny demanded, and his voice started rising with anger, getting so close to snapping.

"_Excuse _me, Johnnycake?!" Dallas commanded.

"Guys, please! Stop!" Sondra came pleading into the conversation. She was starting to believe that all of this sudden fighting was all because of her, and she was actually correct, even though none of the Greasers wanted to fight one bit, epecially in front of her. "Look, Johnnycake asked me to come over here to meet Darry Curtis and actually meet Dallas Winston!"

Dally shot his full, undivided, ticked off attention over to the fourteen-year-old girl, making her yelp as Johnny wrapped his arms around her waist with her still there behind him, keeping her protected and safe from any violent blows of the fists or bone-crunching kicks, or just simply getting spit upon.

"Why are you saying our names like we're not even here?!" Dally growled at Sondra, obviously referring to Darry and himself.

"Hey, this was Johnny's idea! Not mine!" Sondra panicked out, and she locked her hands over her face to keep her fear, nervousness, and shyness hidden from any of the Greasers views or sights.

"Gee..." Johnny sighed "thanks, Baby, you're my rock."

"I'm sorry, Johnny! I panicked! I didn't mean-"

"Can it, Regular! Just get out! You wasted your time coming here, whether it was Johnnycake's idea or not!" Dallas exploded with rage, and the rest of the gang gasped after they took in and digested Dally's words...but before anybody could say a single thing...Sondra was out the door, crying her heart out...

**A/N: Cliffhanger! What's going to happen next? Well, yawl will have to wait until the next chapter to see! Please review, and I still give props to my great, tuff, golden friends who've been chatting with me and keeping my writing spirit strong! Thanks, guys! Read yawl in the next chapter now! :D :D :D :D**


	13. Talks from Different Worlds

**A/N: Hello, everybody! Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for all of the favorites and reviews, and I thank my golden and tuff friends for talking with me and having me keep going with my writing! You all are the best! I adore each and every one of you! _No flames_ though! All negative comments will be _deleted right away_! Now, enjoy chapter 13! :D **

_Chapter 13_

"What the heck was that, Dally?!" Johnny demanded. Man, he was ticked, believe it or not, after what he and everybody else in the gang just witnessed what Dally said and done to Sondra, hurting her verbally. Johnny's black eyes that were usually filled with plead and shyness were now huge, dwelling with rare rage and pure command. His sparkling white teeth that would show only in his small, shy, handsome smiles were now only showing from them being clenched tightly, and his lips weren't curled up in a cute little grin. Instead, his lips were exposing his tightly clenched teeth, and his face was beating dark red from feeling so, so upset.

As for the rest of the gang, they were all just watching, their eyes huge and mouths hanging open, looking pale as ever, while some of them gulped to themselves, and others exchanged their shocked expressions as they awkwardly scratched the back of their heads or necks. Some of the other Greasers placed their hands on their own shoulders as well. They all looked so, so shocked and completely startled, and you couldn't blame them one bit. It looked almost as if they all spotted a ghost, or a demon, or something extremely terrifying and shocking like that.

Sure, everyone knew that Dallas hated Regulars, but why on earth couldn't he have talked to Sondra? She didn't do anything to him, other than bumping into him in town twice a couple days back, but those were both accidents. Other than that, Sondra wasn't any trouble at all, which was completely rare when you're talking about a Regular, because they're mainly caught in their lies and issues, fighting away and breaking the rules anytime they wanted. But Sondra wasn't like that at all. Not one bit. She was completely shy and distant, quiet and cautious, but also very sweet and generous, unless you ticked her off. Other than that, Sondra was no trouble at all. However, Dallas believed that all Regulars were nothing but dirty pains that you could never get rid of, unfortuently.

"_That _was me protecting you, Johnnycake!" Dally exclaimed out.

"Protecting me?! Dally, when you're walking along the street with me to keep me safe from being jumped, _that's_ protecting me! When you're telling my parents to back off when they're beating me and threaten to use your switchblade on em, _that's _protecting me! Keeping me from allowing to share about one of my new friends by scaring her out of the house in tears..." Johnny shut himself up for a moment to take in a deep breath and let it out, as he wiped the sudden sweat of anger that was starting to trickle down his forehead and underneath his jet-black bangs. "Dallas, that's _not _protecting me! That's keeping me from having any fun with Baby!" Johnny then finished what he wanted to say.

Dally secretly rolled his dark blue eyes after taking in and digesting the eldest Cade's words. Well, that was certainly different, considering that Dallas _never _usually got angry or annoyed with Johnny one bit. In Dally's opinion, Johnnycake was starting to sound like his teenaged son, who was complaining about how he wasn't allowed to do anything he wanted to have actual fun and joy.

"I'm trying to make sure that you won't have _too much _fun with this golden blonde Regular!" Dally pointed out to the oldest Cade. Johnny crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head, rolling his black eyes when doing so. He knew what was running through Dally's mind...and boy, it disturbed Johnny greatly, but at the same time, it just made him angry.

"Would you _please_ stop calling her 'that golden blonde Regular' and start calling her by her actual nickname! It's Baby! B-A-B-Y! Baby!" Johnny proclaimed, his voice getting angrier and angrier with every word that he exclaimed out from his lips.

Dally released a hearable groan as he closed his eyes shut, then rubbed his forehead from so much pain stacking up and buzzing completely around in his temples. "This isn't a spelling-bee, Johnny! And you're starting to act like a B-A-B-Y yourself!" Dally exclaimed. Everybody couldn't believe what now they were witnessing. Right after Sondra bashed out of the house, shedding every single drop of water from her eyes, Dallas and Johnny were now going back and forth, bickering at one another. Man, Johnny's never been so ticked off before since when Bob tried to drown Ponyboy a couple months before. And Dally has never called Johnny a single harsh name before in their whole years together as close, best friends, but at least being called a baby wasn't as bad as what other 'polite' language that Dallas used nearly 24/7. Not even close.

Johnny hands slimly clenched together, his arms still resting hard against his chest, as he continued to stare at Dally with pure rage and anger. "Well, let me just point out the fact that if I'm a baby, you wouldn't be talking about me and Baby having too much fun! And...EW!" Johnny suddenly hollered out, and he started gagging a bit at just the plain image that he now had burned into his mind because of Dally. "Baby and I are just friends! We were just tutoring math! It wasn't like we were kissing or anything! We're just friends and that's all we're ever going to be!" Johnny assured, still slightly gagging with his words from what Dallas was meaning about him and Sondra 'having too much fun'.

"Oh, please! Johnny, it's so _obvious _that you have a crush on a Regular!" Dally bellowed "and I forbid you to ever go out with a Regular!"

Johnny made this kind of expression upon his face that made him look like he was saying, "You're kidding me, right?!", after he took a moment to seriously think about what Dallas just ordered him to do. He seriously couldn't believe it. It seemed like to Johnny that Dally was his dream father, but at the same time, he was a nightmare because he was so protective just because Sondra was labeled with the title of a Regular.

"You _forbid _him, Dallas? Really? Dude, he's sixteen! He's old enough to look out for himself when it comes to dating!" Steve informed, finally breaking out of the shock at least a little enough to be able to finally speak up.

"What are you talking 'bout, Randle?! He's never dated anybody before in his whole life!" Dally bellowed, his voice grumbling with drop-dead anger towards just the picture of Johnny's first ever girlfriend being Sondra, a Regular. Johnny crossed his arms across his tough chest again and narrowed his black eyes, as his face flamed up even more, and he shot what was like a very rare scowl off at Dally.

"That don't matter one bit, Dallas! So what if I haven't dated anyone ever before?! I just haven't found the right girl yet!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Well, whoever that right girl might be, it certainly _can not _be a Regular, especially that golden blonde-ugh, I mean, that Baby Regular." Dally rolled his eyes at the nickname that he had to use to adress Sondra, otherwise Johnny would just grow more and even more furious.

"Dally, you can't do that!"

Surprisingly, that was coming from Johnny. Not Darry, not Kitten, not anyone of the other Greasers...but Johnny Cade.

"Just because she's a Regular and I'm a Greaser, doesn't mean we can't hang out and be friends!" Johnny instructed.

"I don't care if you're 'friends', but you two better not get anything more going on! I still hold my case with you being forbid by me to go out with any Regulars!" Dallas growled.

"You don't tell me what to do, Dallas!" Johnny had finally snapped, and he was certainly sick at just remembering how Dallas had treated Sondra. "You're just my friend, Dally! I really do respect how you're trying to look out for me, but Sondra isn't anyone to woffin' any worries over! You can't forbid me on who to date! You're not my dad!"

Dally clenched his hands into two tight fists, his knuckles starting to turn bright red from being clenched so hard, and they started to tremble a little bit. Complete anger struck him as he took in and thought heavily about what Johnny said exclaimed at him.

"Ya know what, Johnnycake? You're right! I'm _not _your father, and it's pretty dang obvious that I'm not because I don't beat you to a pulp 24/7!" Dally blurted out with full rage in his voice, and right after he said those words, he wished he hadn't. Johnny's glare instantly faded off from his face as the anger drained from his eyes, and his usual plead and shyness took their places again, as if he was never ticked off. Everyone else in the gang, even Darry, released gasps from their mouths, and their eyes all shot huge, as they all exchanged new shocked and startled looks. _That_ was quite low, Dally bringing up one of the Cade's absuive folks like that.

Dally's eyes slimly grew big, and his cheeks turned bright, bright red from embarrassment. He had finally got a hold of himself to realize what the heck he just said, and boy, by the tears that were starting to form in Johnny's eyes, Dallas regreted it big time. Dally unclenched his fists and gave the eldest Cade a pity expression, meaning that he was telling Johnny that he was sorry without actually talking, but Johnny didn't care to take that apology into any consideration.

"Johnnycake, I..." Dally trailed off in his own regretting thoughts, his voice now completely soft, but still hearable, and filled with pleading sorrow.

"I can't believe you said that to me!" Johnny cried out. "I'm sick and tired of being abused, too, ya know?! But you know why I stick 'round for it?! So my little sisters and I won't get parted from each other and sent to different homes! I actually have a good reason to stick around and get abused all day! I do it so my sisters will be safe, and they'll recieve actual love and care!"

"Johnny, I didn't mean to-" Dallas tried explaining with the same quiet and sorrow speaking tone, but Johnny cut him off, snatching up his blue jeans jacket and slipping it right on, right before he grabbed a hold of the Curtis's front doors knob, and he twisted it around as far as it could go. He yanked the door open with such a hard force that made even Darry feel like he was about to faint over Johnny's new behavior, and all of it was just because he was protecting Sondra.

"Where are you going?!" Dally then demanded.

"Out!" Johnny exclaimed through his tears, and right after he said that single word, he rushed right out of the Curtis's house, allowing the door to slam shut for the first time ever behind him, and the eldest Cade ran and ran as fast as he could in the darkness of the cold September night, being bathed underneath the starlight and moonlight, as he cried his heart out, wishing desperately that he knew where Sondra had ran off to.

"Really?! Again?! I made two people cry in one night and run out?!" Dallas exclaimed to himself in his head, adding on soon after, "Well, I don't care about that golden blonde Regular, Baby, or whatever...but Johnnycake is one of my best friends...plus this feels like my first time in jail as a kid all over again."

"Dally, what'd you do that for?! Why couldn't have you just accept the fact that Johnnycake likes this girl, and you just could've simply shook her hand and said a friendly hello here!" Kitten instructed, her voice slightly bitter and angry from what just happened between the eldest Cade and Dallas.

"I'm never friendly..." Dallas mumbled under his breath, being so quiet so he'd only be able to hear his own words. He then took in a deep breath and let it go, taking a moment to gaze around at his fellow Greasers, who were all giving him their full, undivided attention. "Look," Dally sighed in an uncaring and flat tone, even though he truly did care and love Johnny, just like he loved Jocelyn and Cassidy very much. "I just don't think our gangs could clash. Seriously, that's been going on since the beginning of this town. Just like the Socs don't mix with us, the Regulars don't mix with us either, ya dig?"

"Baby's different though, Dallas! She's not one of those harsh and sassy Regulars that'd do anything to secretly plot to sneak into a rumble and attack the gang that were so close to becoming the actual winner!" Soda exclaimed, only raising his voice so he could clearly get that message through Dally's skull.

"I don't care what personality or whatever this Baby girl has! All I actually _do _care to recognize 'bout 'er is that she's nothin' but a Regular!" Dally bellowed, stomping his way out of the living room and into the kitchen. But that didn't stop the rest of the gang to quickly rush after him, as if the devil was in the Curtis's living room. Dally snatched out a mini bottle of water from the Curtis's fridge, everybody still looking at him with full attention and different emotions, some of them looking shocked, while others looked surprised, and some looked angry. Believe it or not, Cassidy Cade was one of those to look upset with full anger, as she sat there at the kitchen table with her homework now finished, and her arms were crossed over her chest. Man, was here dark, dark brown eyes filled with rage, and her face was beating red.

"Dally, what the heck did you say?! I heard everything from in here! And you should know that it _is _true! That Baby Regular _did _save me from getting hauled in by the fuzz!" Cassidy bellowed "I can't believe you made Johnny cry! My own brother! How could you, Dallas?!"

Dally took down a big gulp of his water, feeling his heart start to race hard in his chest from, believe it or not, nervousness, because none of the Cade's had _ever _gotten angry with him before in their whole lives of knowing each other, and it was already bad enough that Johnny was technically in an emotional wreck, and now Cassidy was starting to get upset herself.

"I didn't mean to, Carla! I seriously didn't mean to make him cry and run out like that!" Dally wiped his mouth from the remaining drops of water with the back of his free hand before finishing with the three words, "He just did!"

Cassidy rolled her eyes, and considering that she was a Cade, Dallas couldn't beat her head in. He truly did love her very much, as a great friend, that is. "Oh, please!" Cassidy exclaimed "he truly does love Baby as a friend for now, but you just got to except the fact that you can't tell him who to date! You even know that sooner or later he and Baby will hook up and start going out!"

Dallas took another sip of water from his mini water bottle, swallowing what was in his mouth as he shook his head, trying his best to keep his anger locked up inside when it came to him talking to a Cade. "Heck no! Not on my watch! You know what'll happen if any of the other Greasers, like the Shepard's gang, or the Socs, catch a Regular going out with one of us, a Greaser?! It's already bad enough that you guys are friends with that golden blonde Regular, especially Johnnycake!" Dally lectured, his voice stern, but not full of rage when responding to something that Cassidy said.

"What is this?! Romeo and Juliette?! Because this is starting to feel like we're actually in that story!" Steve blurted out, not being able to keep that thought to himself. To be honest, to the rest of the gang, especially Dally, they were all believing the same thing, feeling like Johnny was playing Romeo while Sondra played Juliette...although this time, Romeo and Juliette weren't going to commit suicide to be together forever.

"Whatever! I never liked that story!" Dally grumbled, before he took the last remaining sips of his water from his mini water bottle, and he dropped it into the trashcan that was in the corner of the Curtis's kitchen. Darry crossed his tough arms across his rock-hard chest, cocking an eyebrow as he glared at Dally.

"Dally, you got to allow the new thoughts to come to you already. Johnny's going to be seeing this girl a whole lot, so you better get used to it. I just so happen to think she's alright, even though she is a Regular." Darry shared his opinion. "You best go after Johnnycake. Dinner will be ready in less then twenty minutes, and he's out there in the darkness of the cold night with a broken heart. He properly thinks you don't care 'bout him anymore."

"That's bull crap, Darry!" Dallas exclaimed out.

Darry simply shrugged his shoulders, his arms still remaining to be crossed over his shoulders. "Well, you'd properly think the same thing if somebody said something harsh like that to you." the eldest Curtis then pointed out.

Dallas placed his hands on his hips. "Look, when people say harsh things to me, they say 'em because they _hate _me! It has _nothing _to do with my deeply locked emotions of anger, rage, and whatnot that involves being upset!"

Cassidy rolled her eyes again, slightly clenching her teeth a bit, as she was about to slide down from the chair she was sitting in at the Curtis's kitchen table. "I guess I'll go if you won't, Dallas. I'll go find Johnny."

"No way! You go out there, and you'll most likely get jumped by some ridiculous, -, no good, - Socs!" Dally cursed, and Soda quickly placed his hands over Ponyboy's ears, because he knew that Darry absoluetly hated it when Dally 'spoiled Pony's mind' with such language.

"Dallas!" Darry growled.

"Well hey! You gotta admit that it's the truth!" Dally complained, and he couldn't help himself to punch the wall with one single blow of his fist, making Two-Bit yelp a little, while Steve and Kitten slightly jumped, and Darry, Ponyboy, and Sodapop just stared at him, wide-eyed. But all Cassidy did was stare at him with anger still spread all around her face from thinking about what Dally said to her brother. The gang was just lucky that Dally didn't punch with his full strength, otherwise there'd be a hole or dent in the Curtis's kitchen wall. However, the bang was still good enough to wake Jocelyn up from Ponyboy's and Sodapop's bedroom, and the whole gang could now here her crying and whimpering upstairs.

"Guys...I'm sorry...it's just that...ugh..." Dallas sighed, his face burning up with humiliation, and he locked his hands over his face, wiping away some sweat. Everybody was dead-silent, the only sound being heard was Jocelyn's cries and whimpers from upstairs. Ponyboy pouted and sighed, Soda's hands no longer being over his ears from him removing them after Dallas punched the wall.

"We get that you're protective of Johnnycake, Dal...but we can't make his decisions for him. If he wants to be more then friends with a Regular," Ponyboy stated.

"He's _not _becoming more then friends with a Regular! Especially that Baby Regular!" Dally snarled to himself under his breath, so no one but himself could hear what he had just said.

"Then we should support him." Ponyboy continued on with what he wanted to say. "It's not our choice for him to date. Were not the ones going to be picking out his spouse in the future here."

A confused expression formed on Two-Bit's face, as he turned his attention over to Pony. "A spouse? What's that? A cross over between a mouse and a spider?"

"No, you idiot!" Steve exclaimed, smacking one of his hands straight onto his forehead. "It means the one you're going to marry in the future! The kids talkin' about Johnny's wife!"

"Can we disguss this later, guys?!" Kitten asked, coming into the conversation with Two-Bit and Steve before any of them could get in with anymore words or anything like that.

"Yeah, Kitty-Cat's right..." Dally sighed, which instantly gave him everybody's full, undivided attention once again. Dallas closed his eyes, then took in a deep breath in, releasing it afterwards, both through his nose, before he reopened his dark blue eyes. "I'll go get Johnnycake...and once again...I'm sorry, alright? Ugh...I'll be back soon with the oldest Cade..." Dally informed, and after that, he was out of the Curtis's house, leaving the Curtis's kitchen and continuing his way out the front door, allowing it to slam shut behind him like always.

The rest of the gang exchanged looks, each of them now looking surprised from hearing Dally actually apologize to them without sarcasm or being forced to say sorry for a change. They were now all completely pale again, and their eyes were now huge, their lips also forming pity frowns all together.

Soda didn't say anything, too surprised to do so, and he left upstairs to go take care of Jocelyn. Ponyboy didn't take any hesitation to go on up after him, and Kitten decided to tag along as well, while Two-Bit went back to watching Mickey Mouse with Steve plopped down next to him on the couch, now reading a cars and engines magazine from the Curtis's coffee table. All Darry did was go back to fixing dinner, and Cassidy decided to just sit in the recliner, gazing out the big window from peaking behind its closed curtain while doing so, so she could wait for Dally and Johnny to return.

Meanwhile in town, the breeze was a whole lot colder, whistling away in a sorrow, pity-like singing tone, and the dark sky that was filled with millions of dazzling stars and the glowing moon were bathing the town all over. Johnny was walking down the sidewalk, rubbing his hands up and down his arms from feeling so dang chilly from not having a better jacket on, but his dark blue-jeans jacket was the only jacket he actually had. The cold breeze was stinging his face, slapping away at his wet cheeks and tearful, red-rimmed eyes, and he gazed down at his old, worn out tennis shoes, sniffling away like there was no tomorrow, whimpering to himself, while he wished still that he desperately knew where Sondra went.

Sondra...man...Johnny couldn't get her off from his mind...thinking of her somehow made Johnny warm up a little, but not a whole lot from the cold breeze singing all around. She might've been a tomboy Regular, but Johnny knew for a fact that he truly did adore her, as a friend, that is. Her pretty pale blue eyes were such a sparkling shade of beauty in Johnny's mind, and her little grin gave him that feeling of his heart rising in his chest, but he had no clue why that feeling came to him at all.

"Johnnycake! Johnny!" this voice then called out, echoing in the quietness of the fall night. Johnny instantly froze in his tracks, still sniffling his whimpers and cries, and he turned around, only gazing over his shoulder to see where that male voice was coming from. The eldest Cade's heart began rapidly racing in his chest from the nighttime already being extremely cold and scary, and considering the fact that he was already crying his heart out with him being completely alone, everything was frightening and suspenseful enough. Nevertheless, it didn't take long at all until Johnny spotted Dally, who was running towards him down the direction of the sidewalk that he just came down from.

Johnny rolled his watery eyes, continuing to sniffle a bit as he released a deep breath of relief, but yet anger and sorrow at the same time, and he continued to slowly walk. Dallas quickly rushed up to Johnny's side and started breathing in and out heavily from running all around to find him, as he just started to simply walk beside the eldest Cade.

"Johnnycake, what are you doin' out here?" Dally asked.

Johnny wiped away his tears from his steaming hot cheeks, as he continued to sniffle a bit more, and then he jammed his hands into his jean jackets pockets. "I told you that I was going out." Johnny shrugged his shoulders. New hot tears began starting to drip out from his black eyes, traveling their way down his hot, but yet cold cheeks, and dripping down from the sixteen-year-old boys face, splashing down onto the concrete.

Dallas pouted, feeling this strange feeling of care starting to tug on his heart, and he took down a deep gulp to help clear this sudden baseball-sized lump that was resting in his throat. Dally had just realized how harsh and demanding he was being not to long ago at all, but he was only trying to protect Johnny.

"Johnny, you do know that I care about you, right? Well, I was only saying that stuff because I don't want you to fall for a Regular, ya dig?" Dally questioned.

"But I'm _not _falling for Baby, Dallas! We're just friends. Ya know, you always do this! You always judge people who aren't Greasers like us before getting to know them! You did it to Cherry, Marcia, and Randy, remember?!" Johnny asked, crossing his arms over his chest, while he sniffled a bit more.

"The redhead, her best friend, and her best friends boyfriend are Socs though! We have more rival stuff with the Socs then we do the Regulars! But either way, I was only thinking for your safety, Johnnycake! I never really encountered a Regular like that before in my entire life! I've only seen them around, and trust me, they're certainly no golden rays of sunshine!" Dally bellowed, only raising his voice in order to get that through Johnny's head.

"Neither are we, Dallas!" Johnny reminded, shrugging his shoulders as he continued to run his bare hands up and down his arms.

"This isn't 'bout us, Johnnycake! I only said that stuff to that golden blo-" Dally began, but Johnny cut him off after he realized what Dallas was about to say about Sondra.

"It's _Baby_, Dally! And I know that you're not my father, considering that you don't beat my sisters and myself 24/7, and we're thankful for that, but you can't protect me from somebody that isn't even trying to harm me!" the oldest Cade pointed out. Dally started kicking a small rock, his hands now resting inside his leather jackets pockets, while he took a moment to think about what Johnny just said, and also about Sondra.

"You don't know that, Johnny. Who knows, maybe this Baby _is _trying to hurt you."

"You're kidding me, right?! Dallas, she's nothing but a shy and innocent friend of mine, whom I'm tutoring in math, whether anybody likes it or not! I just so happen to like her, and I want to make sure she's never upset, but after what happened tonight, I don't know if she'll ever even talk to me again!"

Dang...that was quite a mouthful of a lecture coming from Johnny Cade. Dally was actually positive that, that was the longest time that he's ever heard Johnny talk, and not only that, but he was starting to raise his voice with some anger in his voice as well.

"I'm sure that she'll talk to you again, Johnny, but I just don't want you two to be more then..friends." Dally instructed, needing a short moment to pause to actually take in the fact that Sondra was actually friends with everybody in the Greasers gang, especially Johnnycake, except himself, considering that he didn't want to be friends with a Regular.

"We already went over this, Dally! Baby and I are only friends, and we're not ever going to become anything more! I'm only tutoring her, not making out with her or anything like that!" Johnny exclaimed.

Dallas crossed his arms over his chest, cocking an eyebrow while he was at it. "So you two never kissed?"

Johnny secretly rolled his eyes, then shook his head. "We've only known each other for two days! Of course we never kissed!"

"Hey, if my uncles best relationships can start in two minutes, then I'm pretty sure _a lot _can happen in two days between you and a Regular." Dally informed.

The oldest Cade locked one of his hands over his mouth and gagged a bit at what he just heard Dally tell him. "Can you please stop referring to Baby as her label?! The two of us are only friends! Nothing more! And nothing more is ever going to happen! And...EW!" Johnny gagged some more.

"Johnny! I'm only telling you this because it's a fact! Most teenagers go overboard with love!" Dally informed.

"Well, Baby and I are not in love! We've never kissed, we've never flirted with each other, and we're never going to fall in love! We're just friends, ya dig?!" Johnny asked, and Dallas grew a satisfied grin as he nodded his head at what Johnny just said, approving it.

"Okay, fine. I'll allow you to be friends with Baby, but I don't want to be friends with her myself. I'm not in the mood to get tied into the Regulars and whatnot with 'em. Just don't go out with her, or any Regular, understand? I'm only trying to protect you from getting hurt, ya dig?" Dally asked. Johnny didn't know what he could possibly say anymore to get the messages of Sondra not wanting to hurt him in anyway or form, or with him and Sondra not falling for each other, through Dally's head and through his skull, locking them into his brain. So, all Johnny did was keep his hands stuffed into his jean jackets pockets, and he nodded his head.

"Good," Dally grinned that satisfied smirk of his again, gently smacking his hand on Johnny's back, giving him a few pats. "Now, let's get back to the Curtis's house. The gangs completely worried about you, especially Cassidy, and dinners almost ready."

"...Yeah, alright." Johnny nodded his head, releasing a secret sigh to himself, right before he turned himself around, and started walking back down the direction that he and Dally had just came, the two male Greasers staying close by each others sides in order to stay safe and so they wouldn't get parted in the darkness of the fall night.

Meanwhile with Sondra, the poor fourteen-year-old Regular was still crying to death, wiping away as many tears as she could, as she remembered the dark memories of how harsh and ticked Dally had sounded at her, because she was there in the Curtis's house on Greasers territory. But she was _still _on Greasers territory, considering that she was heading back to Charlie's house, and both his and Rebecca's houses were on Greasers territory, while the rest of the gangs houses were on actual Regulars territory in the center of town.

Sondra kept questioning to herself if she was a mistake, because she didn't understand why her and Iris's folks hated her, and then Dally hollered at her to get out, while not long at all before, she was nearly killed by those Ross and Chandler Socs. How long was it going to be until something else terrible happens?

Suddenly, Sondra spotted two people, one male and one female, who were both looking like teenagers, making out together under one of the light poles, connecting their lips and smacking them together like there was no tomorrow. Great, Sondra thought to herself. That was something else that made her feel even more terrible. She never had a boyfriend before, and she felt like she'd never get one, meaning she'd never share her heart with anyone, she'll never have her first kiss, she'll never slow dance with anybody, and she'll never fall in love.

But that's when Sondra realized something. She wiped away her tears an sniffled a couple more times, as she squinted her eyes to realize who those two teenagers were. Just as Sondra suspected! After she realized who those two teens that were making out were, she grew a weak smile upon her face, jamming her hands into her jean jackets pockets as she trotted across the street, over to under the light pole where those making out teenagers were.

"Eric! Savannah! It's great to see you guys!" Sondra cheered out, even though her voice didn't sound so cheerful. Instead, it sounded soft and silent, like it usually always was. Right after she said those two names, the two teens parted from their kissing, and they gazed over at the fourteen-year-old girl, realizing that Sondra was there with them.

Eric smiled his handsome grin, while Savannah flashed her gorgeous smile. Eric threw his arm over Savannah's shoulder and held her close to him, as the two of them watched Sondra approach them.

"Hey, Baby! What's up?" Savannah asked.

Sondra only shrugged, not wanting to admit what happened between her and the Curtis's Greaser gang to Eric and Savannah. She only wanted to talk over it with one person. Either Rebecca or Charlie.

"You okay, Baby? You seem down." Eric pointed out, but Sondra shook her head right after he said those words.

"No, I'm fine. I was just getting tutored in math by a new friend of mine, but I'm nervous to head back to Charlie's place my own this late at night because of the Socs." Sondra explained.

Eric nodded his head. "Yeah, Charlie told us about this Johnny boy, and Becky informed us about how you were jumped by these Socs not long ago at all. Are you okay?" he then questioned.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Eric. I almost got my throat slashed that night, but I'm absoluetly golden right now." Sondra lied as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Listen, can you guys please walk me back to Charlie's house? I don't feel safe walking home this late at night anymore."

Sondra could actually fight. She was a fantastic fighter, but when it came to Socs with weapons like switchblades, chains, and whatnot, Sondra couldn't handle it. She'd get so stressed out and afraid that she wouldn't know what to do. So, she was now completely scared to walk all by herself during the nighttime.

"Of course, Son-oh, I mean, Baby." Savannah sighed, still truly hating on the inside that Sondra had made everybody still call her by her nickname. "Would you mind telling us why we can't call you by your real name?"

"...No...I'm sorry, guys, but that's no one else's buisness but my own...now can you two please walk me to Charlie's house?" Sondra asked, her voice now pleading softly, and with that, Eric took a gentle hold of her shoulder with his free hand, tugging her along down the sidewalk then with him and Savannah.

About ten minutes of silently walking in the darkness of the cold September night, Eric and Savannah had finished escourting Sondra back to Charlie's house. Peter was still there, sitting on the front porchs stairs with his big, handsome, but yet goofy grin plastered on his face, and his emerald green eyes shimmered when they laid on Sondra, and seeing Savannah and Eric was a bonus in Peter's mind. Hey, he takes whatever it is that he can get.

"Hey, Baby! Yo, Eric-O! Savvy!" Peter cheered happily and full of lively thrill, as he clapped his hands together a few times in a row.

"Hey, Peter." Savannah grinned and waved at him, finding it funny that he was still calling them by their little kiddie names from when they were all children. Then, Eric snapped his fingers together, meaning that he just realized something.

"You're back to your original hair color, dude!" Eric pointed out, pointing at Peter's hair that was no longer black, and Peter's smile grew wider as he nodded his head with full pride, placing his hands on his hips when doing so.

"Yeah. I'm back to brunette. I was getting tired of the black dye. Just don't tell Charlie that his upstairs showers now a complete mess." Peter chuckled.

"You didn't care to wash it out?" Savannah asked as she cocked an eyebrow, and Peter snickered some more as he shook his head at her question, making her giggle herself as Eric just grinned a little, and even Sondra couldn't help herself to playfully roll her eyes. However, what happened that night was still heavily weighing down on her mind, pushing hard on her and getting her emotional.

"Peter, why aren't you back home?" Sondra asked "did your old man kick you out again?"

"No," Peter shook his head. "My ma grounded me for breaking a vase with my baseball when I was practicing my swinging in the living room. So, I went upstairs into my bedroom, locked the door, climbed out my window, and hitch-hiked back here."

"Well, where's Charlie and Rebecca?" Sondra then questioned.

"Inside with Iris. Why? And why do you look so down?" Peter asked, his voice now completely concerned when he realized the sorrow that was contained in Sondra's eyes.

Still, the fourteen-year-old girl didn't want to admit the truth about what happened to her and the Curtis's Greaser gang with anybody, except either Rebecca or Charlie. That's when Sondra remembered Johnny's words about Kitten, calling her pretty and whatnot, and causing her to get this strange feeling of anger all the sudden, which Sondra still questioned about.

Peter, Eric, and Savannah all kept their eyes on Sondra as she walked up the porch steps of Charlie's house, and she released a hearable sigh, as the wind gently blew and whistled with that sorrow, pity-like song.

"...I think Johnny likes this girl named Kitten in his gang. That's all." Sondra spoke, and she really didn't want to chat about Johnny saying such words of beauty and whatnot about Kitten, considering that she got angry out of no where with it, but it was the best she got out of thinking fast with not revealing the truth.

Peter instantly smirked as Savannah and Eric exchanged satisfied, admiring expressions.

"Well, well, well, it sounds like someone has a crush!" Eric snickered, and right after he said those words, Sondra's eyes grew huge as her face heated up to that shade of a bright, bright red, and her heart started beating rapidly in her chest. Savannah nodded with full agreement to what her boyfriend just pointed out, and Peter's eyes lit up with happiness and excitement, as he chuckled some himself.

"What?! No I don't! Johnny's just tutoring me in math! It's not like we're kissin' or anything!" Sondra objected, shaking her head while she was at it to help at least make her seem a little bit more convincing, but she knew that it wouldn't work since she was speaking to Peter, Eric, and Savannah.

"Then why are you jealous?" Peter asked, flashing his perfectly white teeth with his big handsome smile, which only made Sondra grow redder and hotter, especially on her cheeks and forehead.

"I'm _not _jealous!" Sondra objected.

"Then why is it bothering you about Johnny talkin' 'bout some other girl named Kitten?" Savannah questioned, giggling her sweet and beautiful chuckles while speaking bit.

"Oh! Nevermind! I'm not jealous! I just need to talk to Rebecca or Charlie!" Sondra exclaimed, and with that, she entered through the front door of Charlie's house with Peter deciding to follow her, while Eric and Savannah decided to leave.

"I'm back from tutoring!" Sondra announced throughout the household.

"Good! You're on time, too!" Charlie congratulated from where ever he was in his home. "Don't slam the-"

Nevertheless, before Charlie could finish, the front door slammed shut behind Peter, who was smiling his big, handsome, but yet goofy grin with full pride in what he just did for a joke.

"...Door." Charlie growled, annoyingly, hating how loud that bang was, and how it echoed possibly througout the whole neighborhood.

"Too late!" Peter laughed, making his way into Charlie's kitchen, while Sondra just grinned a little and rolled her eyes in a playful manner, before she decided to head into Charlie's living room, where she spotted Rebecca sitting there in the center of the room with Iris sitting across from her, only a couple inches away with a book sitting on her lap. Sondra pouted then, feeling the heavy weight starting to pressure her agan.

"The big...fat...dog jumped over...the gate to...chase the...scrawny, white...cat..." Iris read from the page of the book that was resting on her lap. The young seven-year-old was tracing her pointer finger along the paper page that was covered with brail instead of actual words, considering that it was a little childrens book for blind kids.

Rebecca grinned her beautiful smile, satisfied in how better Iris was getting with reading, but her writing was still something that she struggled with greatly.

"Hi, Becky. Hey, Iris." Sondra greeted, and Rebecca instantly turned her attention over to the fourteen-year-old girl, still smiling beautifully, while Iris kept her grayish-whitish eyes down on the book that she was tracing her pointer finger over its brail bumps on its pages.

"Hey, Baby!" Rebecca greeted, cheerfully and happily.

"Hi...sissy..." Iris stuttered once more from her ridiculous brain damage, which made Sondra feel even more upset, and she was upset enough with what happened that night between her and the Curtis's Greaser gang, and also, Johnny possibly falling for Kitten, which Sondra still heavily questioned why she got suddenly angry out of no where.

Rebecca told Iris to continue reading to herself in a polite and kind tone, before she stood up from the carpeted floor and was getting ready to walk over to Sondra, but instead, Sondra just asked her to sit down on the couch with her, which Rebecca did with no questions. She was just thinking that Sondra was exhausted from walking all over the place for many hours.

"Where's Charlie at?" Sondra asked.

"Oh, he's in the kitchen making some dinner. He decided to just simply make pancakes for dinner, considering that he doesn't know how to make much." Rebecca answered, chuckling a bit with her words, while Sondra just simply watched Iris sit there in the center of the floor of Charlie's living room, reading to herself in such a soft tone so you could only hear murmuring of her adorable voice.

"So, Baby," Rebecca then said, gaining over the oldest female Prescott's full, undivided attention. "How was the tutoring with Johnnycake?"

"...Oh...it was good...I didn't hardly understand a thing, but it was okay, I guess...but, uh...can I talk to you about something, Becky?" Sondra asked.

"Of course you can." Rebecca nodded her head, and with that, Sondra spilt her guts, explaining as much as she could with every single detail that she could. Rebecca's smile lessened with every word that she heard coming out from Sondra's mouth, and she couldn't believe that she had been out with the Greasers, especially Dallas Winston.

Sonda sighed after she admitted everything, leaving Rebecca completely shocked and speechless.

"...What do you think I should do, Becky?" Sondra questioned.

Rebecca took down a gulp to help clear her throat so she could find her voice again. "...Well...I'm sorry to say that it's properly best if you never speak to them again. Johnny's fine, but the rest of the gang-"

"No! Becky, they're my friends! They're _our _friends, remember?!" Sondra asked.

"Yes, but after you get treated like that by a Greaser...it comes that you should realize that we come from two different worlds. We're Regulars and they're Greasers. All I'm saying is that you should properly give them some space. Maybe you can even leave Johnny alone for awhile...okay?" Rebecca asked.

Sondra could swear that she felt her heart breaking, and tears forming in her eyes, but that didn't stop her from sighing out the word, "...Okay..."

"AH!" Peter's voice then came screaming from the kitchen.

"PETER?! WHAT'S WRONG?!" Rebecca quickly jumped up onto her feet, and Sondra was up right after her.

"PANCAKE BATTER IN MY FACE! PANCAKE BATTER IS IN MY FACE!" Peter was running around in circles screaming in the kitchen, as if he was a little school girl.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "PETER! THIS IS WHY I NEVER WANT YOUR HELP IN THE KITCHEN!"

However, Sondra couldn't even laugh at that, even though Rebecca started to. Only one thing was running through her mind...school was going to be mighty rough the next day...and only God knew what would happen...

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Well, I hope you all adored the chapter, and please review! Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	14. A School Day of Ignoring

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Thanks for the favorites and reviews, and a special thank you goes out to my very tuff, golden, amazing friends! Without 'em, I would've lost my writing spirit! Thank you, guys! I adore each and every one of you who take time to read and review my story! Thanks again! Still, _no flames _allowed! All negative comments will be _deleated right away_! Please review, and enjoy chapter 14! :D**

_Chapter 14_

God, school was going to be so slow and rough for Sondra, considering that she took it into consideration to do what Rebecca told her to do and give the Greasers some space. And to make it even worse, the next morning quickly arrived before anybody could see it coming. Sondra and Iris had stayed the night at Charlie's house with Charlie, Rebecca, and Peter as well, Peter only staying the night because his mom must've found out by that time that he's been gone and out of his bedroom by sneaking out his window, and if he went home, he'd get a huge lecture from her, and then possibly hollered at by his older brother.

Charlie had just woken Peter, who was sleeping on the living room floor with an old quilt pulled over his body, and a worn out teddy bear being held close to his side by one of his arms, while his other arm rested under his head as his pillow. Peter was only sleeping with a teddy bear because he was entertaining little Iris the night before, talking about the teddy bear and pretending to talk back for it, making Iris adorably laugh and giggle, until she finally fell fast asleep on Charlie's living room couch, having Peter tuck her in after she was out like a light. But he was just so dang tired that he passed out there on the floor with the teddy bear, and Rebecca could only giggle at the sight, right before she tucked a quilt around Peter, then went on to go to sleep on the other couch herself.

Rebecca, on the other hand, was busy making breakfast, and Sondra was still fast asleep upstairs in Charlie's guest room. Considering that Peter didn't want to go to school again to take a social studies test instead, Rebecca and Charlie, who didn't really mind taking their time away from high school again, agreed to allow Peter to just stay with them for another day.

"Come on, Baby. You got to wake up. It's time for school." a voice that belonged to Charlie was near, and Sondra knew that he was right there beside the bed, but since she had so much on her mind about what happened the night before and Rebecca's response of what she should do about it, Charlie's voice sounded like it was coming from a distance.

"I don't want to go to school!" Sondra complained in a moaning, slimly tired voice, but Charlie had just started gently, but yet roughly at the same time, shaking and nudging her by her shoulder, meaning that he was still telling her to get up, because she _had _to go to school.

"Well, I'm sorry, Baby, but you got to go to school to get a good education and so you'll be able to go to college in the future." Charlie pointed out, but it still wouldn't work, neither would his nuding. Sondra just ignored his comment and rolled away from him, burrying herself underneath the covers. Charlie placed his hands on his hips and cocked an eyebrow at the fourteen-year-old girl, who had her bare feet only slightly peaking out from the beds blanket with the rest of her body fully covered up and hidden from any sight.

At that moment, it was as if Peter had super powers or something, because here he came scamping on into the guest room and trotting right over to Charlie's side, which is when Charlie realized that Peter was wearing a pair of his jeans and one of his T-shirts. Charlie narrowed his eyes at Peter, who only grinned back, and Charlie rolled his eyes, thinking to himself to just let that go for some other time.

"What's going on here, Charlie-arlie?" Peter asked.

"Other then you wearin' my clothes, it's Baby." Charlie mumbled, being so, so quiet in a whispering tone so only Peter could hear what he was saying.

Peter wanted to roll his eyes at Charlie's statement about him wearing his clothes, but Peter knew that when it comes to messing with Charlie, it'd be best to not do such a little thing, unless you wanted to get knocked out with a single punch and end up waking up from the floor with a black eye. Charlie just wasn't the type of guy you wanted to mess with. Anyway though, Peter was mainly concerned about Sondra, thinking about what Charlie just told him as he and Charlie both stared at the bed, realizing Sondra was still underneath the blanket, hiding herself from any view, except her bare feet.

"What's goin' on with Baby?" Peter concerndly questioned.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders as he jammed his hands into his jeans pockets. "God knows only. I have absolute no clue, but ever sense she arrived back here last night from her tutoring with that Johnny Greaser that I told you 'bout, she's been strangely quiet and sorrow seemin'. Now, she doesn't even want to get up out of bed and go to school." Charlie explained.

"...Who actually _would _want to get up this dang early and flee to some boring education building?" Peter asked, and Charlie just stared at him, his eyebrow now cocked and hands remaining jammed in his pockets. "It's almost like if you want to learn Spanish...you want to learn Spanish, take a bus in L.A."

"...This comin' from the teenager who just ditches school nearly all the time and comes here so he won't get busted!" Charlie pointed out.

Peter proudly smiled, taking what Charlie just said to him as a compliment, and Peter chuckled quietly to himself as she patted his best buds shoulder a couple of times. "And I thank you very much for allowin' me to ditch here...I love you, man! We're best buds till the end!"

"Get your hand off of my shoulder before I consider it my breakfast!" Charlie growled in a warning/threatening, snarl-like tone, only because he wasn't in the mood for Peter's jokes and whatnot that early in the morning.

"Touche! Somebody's not a morning person! Well...you're not an afternoon or nighttime person either, but still." Peter chuckled, continuing to joke around and for two reasons. One, it was just his plain personality, being a wisecracker and all. And two, he really enjoyed playfully messin' around with Charlie and Rebecca early on school mornings, but especially Charlie, because Rebecca just laughs along with the jokes or just tunes them out, while Charlie makes threats that he won't ever keep towards a best friend like Peter...well...once in awhile, that is.

Before Charlie could open his mouth to protest another word, Peter stopped him from doing so by placing one of his pointer fingers over his closed lips, which were now curled up in one of his playful, but yet serious, smirks. Charlie knew that look, and it gave it away that Peter had a plan in mind to get Sondra to come out from underneath the covers and just roll out of bed already so she could get ready for school. Charlie just kept his mouth shut and shrugged his shoulders, right before he nodded his head a few times, then he watched as Peter quietly began to step up closer to the bed, his smirk growing more as he started wiggling his fingers.

Meanwhile downstairs, Rebecca was busy flipping pancakes on the stove, already being finished with getting herself done for the day, setting the table, filling up the glasses with Peter's, Charlie's, Sondra's, and her own favorite drinks, and fixing up both eggs and bacon on the side of fixing the pancakes. Rebecca blew her dark bangs out of her face, grinning proudly at her successful work of cooking breakfast, because unlike Charlie, Rebecca never accidentally undercooks something, and unlike Peter, Rebecca doesn't actually come a single inch close to burning down the whole house.

Ever sense Charlie moved out of his home in New York, where he lived with his two folks, and moved to Tulsa, where he quickly learned about the Socs and the Greasers, Charlie needed as much help as he possibly could recieve, considering he's now doing everything on his own from just cleaning a single window and changing one lightbulb in his own house, to actually paying the bills to keep his roof over his head. Mainly everyone in Sondra's mini 'gang' meets up in Charlie's house for that main reason, because he hates how he doesn't have anybody to talk to or hang out with. But Charlie never really chatted with his parents even when he _did _live with them, so it wasn't like the company with them ever changed, but the new background of Tulsa and the whole Greasers-Socs thing, including Charlie's new life on his own, his life actually was different, whether he admitted it or not.

Rebecca hummed a beautiful tune to herself, watching the pancake flip through the air and perfectly land back within the pan that was hovering over the yellow, red, and orange flame. All Rebecca was thinking was the usual quote 'A woman's work is never done.', and she chuckled to herself a bit, as she placed the new pancake down on a single serving plate, where some more was already perfectly golden brown and ready for eating. But Rebecca snapped out of her humming and cooking mode when she started to hear Sondra, who was now laughing uncontroably, as if it was her job.

Quickly, Rebecca turned off the stove and stripped the apron that was tied around her body, quickly tossing it onto the granite counter before she quickly trotted her way out of the kitchen, then continued her way up the stairs. A questioning look was on Rebecca's face every moment she continued to pick up Sondra's laughter, only because Rebecca had no clue what could be going on that was just so dang hilarious. Nevertheless, after Rebecca entered through the doorway that entered the guest room, a big, beautiful smile spread across her face, and she could only giggle at the sight.

There Sondra was, still laying on the bed, but she was now twisting and turning, laughing to death as some tears began to form in her pale blue eyes, and she tried her best to get away from Peter, who was now sitting on her legs and pinning her down, as his fingertips danced lightly up and down her bare feet and poked inbetween her toes, tickling away, causing the fourteen-year-old girl to go insane.

"P-P-Peter! S-Stop it!" Sondra pleaded and begged, trying her best to escape, but Peter had her held down firmly, and there was no way to get up with him sitting on her legs as he tickled her feet to death.

Peter's big, handsome, but yet goofy grin that was upon his face turned into a satisfied smirk, and his adorable green eyes shimmering in spite of himself. "Stop what?" Peter joked, chuckling a bit with his words as he continued to tickle the defenseless teenage girls feet.

"T-Tickling m-my f-feet!" Sondra cried out, and just as she thought it would be all over, Peter shot himself around and wiggled his fingers into her ribs and stomach, still grinning his satisfied smirk as he chuckled, thinking to himself that laughter _was _the best medicine, esprecially for the Prescott girls, but mainly Sondra. Sondra laughed harder and harder, tears of laughter starting to pour down her face as she tried to slap Peter's hands away, but she was too busy trying to catch her breath to do anything to defend herself at that time.

"Oh, okay. I'll stop tickling your feet. How 'bout your ribs and tummy then?" Peter playfully teased, truly enjoying the noise of Sondra's pretty laughter that early in the morning. Charlie grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, absoluetly loving the adorable bonding, morning moment between Peter and Sondra. Rebecca, on the other hand, was loving it as well, and she playfully rolled her eyes, releasing some chuckles to herself as she placed her fists on her hips.

"Alright, Peter-pie. Lay off 'er now. She's had enough." Rebecca giggled.

Charlie nodded his head with full agreement, beginning to slightly chuckle his handsome laughter a bit himself. "Yeah, Peter. Becky's right. She's learned her lesson and she's gettin' up for school. Now come on and let her go." Charlie instructed.

Peter frowned, but then smiled again as he playfully tussled up Sondra's already shaggy, golden blond hair, and he started to giggle some as he slid off from the bed, giving Sondra, who was now breathing in and out heavily in order to catch her breath, and her face was beating red as she couldn't help herself to still smile widely, a few pats on her back. After that, Peter fled the room, and Rebecca decided to follow him to make sure that he wouldn't try to sneak most of the bacon to himself this time. Charlie, on the other hand, stayed in the room, still smiling and chuckling a bit as he helped Sondra up from the floor, her now being on the floor from literally rolling out from it after being tickled for what felt like forever.

"You alright?" Charlie asked, still chuckling a bit when he talked.

"Oh, super." Sondra sarcastically replied, while she continued to take in and let out deep breaths after laughing out much of her early morning energy from Peter's non-mercy tickles. But hey, that's one of the main things he does to you when you're either down, or you just don't listen to a command of any kind.

Charlie playfully rolled his eyes at Sondra's sarcasm, hauling her up from the floor from underneath her arms until she was standing back up directly on her feet all by herself, and right after she was, Charlie simply told her to get ready for school, right before he exited the guest room of his house, closing the door all the way behind him. That's when Sondra's smile instantly vanished off from her face, and she frowned, remembering then again about what happened the night before with Dallas, leading up to when she told Rebecca what all happened in as much detail as she could possibly describe, and Rebecca just told her to give the gang some space.

Sondra thought heavily about Rebecca's exact words to her the night before as she fixed the blanket and pillows on the bed to look good as new, right before the fourteen-year-old girl stripped her pajamas off sorely and slightly painfully from her beaten and bruised body. The dark colors of blue, black, and purple were mixed together up and down Sondra's arms and legs, while red slash marks from the leather belt beat downs were marked upon her shoulders, and her waist-line was completely sore. Her back was marked with many scratches and scars, and she still slightly had a black eye, but it wasn't as bad and terribly purple as the couple days before.

Just remembering Spring's hurtful language and Dominic's striking beatings made Sondra shutter and quietly yelp to herself, as she held back the tears and fought the sniffles, trying to take her mind off of the many things that were contained at the moment in her brain by just getting ready for school. Sondra got dressed in a dark blue pair of worn out jeans, a dark green tank-top, her favorite light blue-jeans jacket, and an old pair of brown tennis shoes of hers, along with a necklace of hers that had only a single charm on that was an S, which of course, stood for her name.

As always, Sondra didn't care to brush her hair, and she left Charlie's guest room, continuing her way down the carpeted stairway and quietly entering the kitchen, where Charlie, Rebecca, and Peter were already sitting around the table, waiting for her. Iris still didn't need to wake up until later, so she was still fast asleep on Charlie's couch in the living room, and besides, when she eats, she needs somebody to feed her.

Breakfast was just like it usually was over at Charlie's house between the four friends. Peter was making jokes, Charlie was just eating and threatening Peter to just stick some of his food into his mouth already, and Rebecca would beautifully laugh at both of their behaviors. However, Sondra wouldn't even laugh or talk. She was absoluetly silent, which was one heck of a major change. She would at least grin a little or chuckle at least once during breakfast time at Charlie's house, but this time was different. Charlie, Rebecca, and Peter knew that Sondra was quiet, but not _this _silent. Rebecca understood what was going on, but she didn't want to speak about it. So, that only left Charlie and Peter to be left confused with such cliffhangers at the moment.

After breakfast, Peter gathered up the dirty dishes, while Rebecca packed away all of the leftover food into Charlie's fridge, and Charlie headed out to his SUV with Sondra, who was trudging along by his side, her backpack swung over her shoulder like it usually would be, and complete plead was stored in her eyes. If there was one thing Sondra adored, it was long car rides, next to sunsets, which was the first thing she completely adored. However, the ride to school wouldn't be more then ten minutes, and Sondra completely hated how she was going to have to face yet another whole school day with getting mocked and whatnot because she was a Regular, but today was different. She was going to have to ignore Johnny, Ponyboy, Kitten, Steve, and Two-Bit.

Charlie knew that something was wrong, but he didn't bother to say anything, because he didn't want to risk Sondra getting upset at him, or risk adding more stress and/or sadness on whatever was all on her mind...and it was an obvious fact that Sondra was going through _a whole lot_.

The entire ride to the school was silent, not a single word between Sondra and Charlie being spoken. All Sondra did was stare out the window, thinking heavily about her and Iris's parents, their many lies, Dally's outbursts with her the night before, and also about what Charlie would possibly be saying to her if he actually was speaking up, but all he was doing was keeping his eyes directly on the road, driving perfectly like always, and unlike Peter and Eric, who both would always drive like they were in a drag-race or something like that.

Sondra knew what she was thinking about Charlie when she figured he'd properly tell her that she wouldn't be fourteen forever, considering that her birthday would arrive soon, and Sondra understood that, but she's always figured being a teenager would be like a rocking party. But instead, it was more of a job for seven straight years, thirteen through nineteen, and after that, you'd be an adult for the next chapter of life. Nevertheless, Sondra was mainly concentrating on the terrible fact that she had to go through God knows how long without talking to any of the Greasers, and that was going to be extremely hard to do, considering that Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Steve, Kitten, and Johnny were all in a lot of Sondra's classes, and Johnny was tutoring her in math by Mrs. Williams's orders.

Charlie simply told Sondra to have a good day as she got out of his SUV in front of the high school, and Sondra just told him that she couldn't make any promises, right before she left and headed into the school.

Day one of not being allowed to make any contact with the Greasers starts now, Sondra sighed to herself in her mind as she entered through the front glass doors of her school, then stopped by her locker, ignoring other students harsh whispers and mocking laughter towards her as she packed her book-bag away, then pulled out her supplies that she needed for her first three periods. After that, Sondra quickly slammed her locker shut, pinning her books and other supplies tightly to her stomach as she sighed when hearing the other students, mainly the Socs, mocking her already, but she just quickly trotted away to get to first period.

Well, as always, first period sucked, considering that nobody is really fully awake during first period, and you know in a single snap of the fingers that you still have a long day with eleven more periods left to go to get through until 2:30 in the afternoon.

Sondra dragged her way to second period, feeling her heart race wildly in her chest as her face began heating up, and she nervously peered into the room from taking a moment to lean in the open doorway to enter Mrs. Williams's math class. Mrs. Williams's was busy in a teachers meeting at the moment, and she wouldn't arrive to her class for about two more minutes, so that left her students free to chat and whatnot with each other for a few.

Sondra's eyes grew big as her face blushed up bright, bright red whence she spotted Johnny, who was sitting where he was at his and Steve's table, and the eldest Cade was smiling brightly, as he chuckled and talked with Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Steve. Sondra took down a gulp in her throat to help clear the bump that she was now feeling, and she began to slimly tremble as she made her way over to hers and Joey's table, where Joey was already sitting, and he glared right at Sondra, making her instantly tense up with even more worries at that moment. Sondra could see that his black eye from her striking punch a couple days back was starting to heal, but man, Joey looked even angrier then ever.

"..Broadly Regular..." Joey snarled, this time staring right at Sondra as he scowled directly at her, and she just secretly gulped again. Instead of saying anything in response, she just began setting out her math supplies, meaning her math homework, math book, and math notebook. However, when Sondra opened up her math book, the hard cover made a little _bang _sound when it gently hit hers and Joey's tables smooth surface, and when the fourteen-year-old girl glanced up, she nervously noticed Johnny now smiling directly at her, his black eyes shimmering off laughter and happiness, and not only that, but Sondra could now tell that Two-Bit, Steve, and Ponyboy was grinning towards her too.

Sondra's face heated up with embarrassment a bit, and she just gazed back down at her math book, flipping through the pages until she made it to the next lesson that Mrs. Williams's would cover that day.

"Hey, Baby!" Johnny greeted, his voice filled with excitment and joy whence his eyes rested on Sondra, and his cheeks lit up and stained with the color of a bright, bright red.

"Sup, Babycakes!" Two-Bit laughed, kicking back in his chair with his feet resting up on his and Ponyboy's table without any cares, and Johnny's eyes slimly grew big as he stared at the wisecracker of the Greasers gang for a moment, realizing what he just did there to give Sondra that sudden nickname. Johnny_cake_...Baby_cake_...oh, god, Johnny thought to himself, feeling slimly embarrassed now on the inside.

"Hiya, Baby." Ponyboy waved, grinning like his three buds were doing when gazing at Sondra, who was just growing more and more guilty every moment they spoke to her, considering that she was remembering what Rebecca told her to do the night before, and she hated that she wouldn't be saying anything back to any of the four male Greasers, and that broke her heart.

"Mornin', blondie." Steve gave a friendly wink to the fourteen-year-old girl.

Sondra's heart beated faster and faster, harder and harder in her chest, as she took a gaze around at Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Steve, who all grew confused expressions when she wouldn't even wave back at them, but the four male Greasers grew extremely confused when all Sondra did for a response to them was...nothing. All she did was look back down at her math book and continue flipping through the pages. Johnny, Two-Bit, Steve, and Pony each exchanged concerned eyes and confused pouts, but Johnny was the main one to start feeling an actual emotion that wasn't confusion like Steve's, Ponyboy's, and Two-Bit's were. The oldest Cade was actually starting to feel sorrow, because he suddenly got this dark thought/feeling of Sondra not caring about him or liking him anymore.

While Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Steve began whispering to each other about Sondra, Johnny peaked over his shoulder to see what Sondra was up to, and all she was doing was continuing to turn more and more pages in her math book, but just as Sondra was about to take her seat, before anybody could see it coming, the oldest female Prescott went falling down to the floor instead with a loud _**BANG!**_

Instantly, Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Steve turned their attention back around at Sondra, realizing she was now backside-down on the floor with sorrow plead contained in her pale blue eyes, and her face burned up deeply with extreme embarrassment when she heard everybody in the classroom now bursting out their mocking laughter towards her fall, except the four male Greasers, and when Sondra looked over at Joey, she realized that he was only smirking down at her, evil locked up in his eyes, while he snickered darkly to himself.

Johnny realized where Sondra was suddenly gazing, and when he turned his attention to Joey to realize how he was acting, unlike all of the other Socs and Regulars that were in the classroom too, and the eldest Cade narrowed his eyes in a death-mock stare, while his face turned red from feeling so angry, and he mumbled under his breath that he was going to get Joey from doing such a rude thing towards Sondra. Just as she was about to simply take her seat after she didn't say anything back to Ponyboy's, Two-Bit's, Steve's, and Johnny's greetings, Joey had yanked her chair out from underneath her, sending her down instantly to the tile floor of the classroom.

Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Steve exchanged confused/concerned expressions, but Johnny actually got up from his chair and walked over to Sondra, bending down a bit so he could touch the fourteen-year-old girls shoulder, but the exact moment Sondra felt his hand gently pressing on her shoulder when she forced herself up into a sitting position on the floor, she quickly shrugged Johnny's hand off.

"Baby, are you alright?" Johnny nervously/concerndly asked, a pleading, sorrow expression plastered on his face. He watched as Sondra only stared at him, right before she stood up from the floor herself, trying to brush off what just happened as she attempted to tune out the rest of the students chuckles and harsh whispers about her, but she just couldn't. Compaired to her home though, school was paradise, whether Sondra hated it, which she extremely did, or not.

"I'm fine!" Sondra mumbled out, being so soft so only Johnny, who was now standing back straight up on his feet after bending down to help her up from the floor, but she wouldn't help him, could hear what she was saying. "Just...don't touch me, okay? Just stay 'way from me today!"

Johnny's black eyes slimly grew big with complete sorrow, as his heart felt like it was just stung with a lightning bolt of pain and misery. He simply rose his hands up to his shoulders and backed off from Sondra, who was now having the same pleading expression glued on her face with the sorrow locked up in her eyes, when she simply took her seat this time, and Johnny did the same. The exact moment he did, Steve peered back over his shoulder a bit to see Sondra, who felt a giant leap of guilt hop inside her body when his eyes met her, and after taking a short gaze, Steve leaned over towards Johnny, whispering what was the problem...but Johnny only shrugged his shoulders, too upset at the moment to respond with a single word.

Man, Sondra was now feeling extremely guilty...but if _that _was plain torture, which it was to Sondra, then the rest of the day was going to be a living hell.

"I'm telling you guys, and gal, _that's _what happened!" Johnny told Ponyboy, Steve, Two-Bit, and Kitten the whole story after second period class had ended, and the four of them were now sitting in their assigned seats in health class with Mr. Morris, who was busy writing down spacific vocab words of different parts of the body and different bones, organs, blood types, and whatnot on the board.

"Why would Baby be like that?" Steve questioned, but Johnny only shrugged his shoulders, too upset still to even think about that question for a single second. He would rather take different beatings from both his parents and some hardcore Socs if that's what it took to keep Sondra in his life, but at that moment, Johnny didn't even know if Sondra still liked him or cared for him, like she did for the first few days that they actually met.

"Hm...this reminds me what happened when I was on my way to my first period class. Social studies with Mr. Hicks." Kitten shared, and Johnny, Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-Bit all instantly shot their full, undivided attention towards their female friend.

"...Do I dare ask what happened on Kitty-Cat's way to social studies?" Two-Bit quietly asked Steve, Ponyboy, and Johnny, even though Kitten could hear his voice still. The only reason that Two-Bit was actually being quiet for a change was so Mr. Morris wouldn't bust them for talking during class, and considering Mr. Morris used to be a gym teacher in his younger years, him being sixty-five now, you would _never _want to tick him off.

"Yes." Pony, Johnny, and Steve each exchanged expressions for a short moment, before they glanced over at the wisecracker of their gang and said that single word together. Kitten's face lit up as she grinned with pride a bit, but it vanished right off from her face when her four male buds glanced back at her without saying a single thing, meaning that they were sending her the message to simply get the story over with.

So, Kitten opened her mouth and began explaining what happened on her way to first period, as known as social studies with Mr. Hicks, who's one of the greatest teachers in the whole school, and he was pretty much the only social studies teacher who hardly gave any homework, and he always tried his best to making social studies fun and thrilling for his students.

_"Hey, girly!"_

_Kitten was at her locker, packing her book-bag away and fetching her supplies for her first three classes when she suddenly heard this male voice say those two little words. Kitten gazed over down the hall to her left to see two Soc boys, one looking sixteen and the other looking eighteen, and the one that just spoke with that greeting had a big, handsome, but yet goofy smirk on his face, and he flipped his red hair when his dark blue eyes caught the view of Kitten's emerald green eyes now looking down at him and his buddy._

_Kitten placed her free hand that wasn't keeping her books and other supplies pinned to her hip on her other hip. She narrowed her emerald green eyes in an annoyed manner when she realized that those two boys were Socs, and she rolled her eyes, not giving a single piece of crap if they caught her or not. Kitten was a very tough and extremely tuff Greaser anyway, so nobody would dare mess with her if they knew what was good for themselves._

_"Please don't tell me that, THAT was adressed to me." Kitten thought to herself in an annoyed tone inside her own mind, as she slammed her locker shut, then glared back down towards the direction of the two male Socs, who were still staring right back at her, the redhead still grinning his smirk while his older buddy with the black hair and green highlights just kicked back against the lockers, watching what was going on like it was some play or a movie or something like that._

_"If you two know what's good for yawl, you best tell me why you're gawking at me like some freakshow stalkers and not order me to shine your expensive boots or anything like that. Just 'cause I'm a Greaser doesn't mean I'm afraid of some Socials like you jerks." Kitten sassed at the two male Socs. Hey, it's a proven fact that Kitten Elizabeth Andrews isn't afraid of ANYTHING that involved Socs, whether it was just sassing off and cursing at them, or getting jumped when she's walking down the street herself, and even going through a hardcore rumble._

_"Oh, come on spicey hottie." the redhead Soc whistled, stuffing his hands into his expensive leather jeans pockets as he began slowly walking towards Kitten with his black-haired friend walking slowly behind him. But Kitten move a muscle. She wasn't afraid one bit. It hasn't been the first time that she had been flirted with by some Socs. Kitten rolled her eyes at the two male Socs again as she shook her head, waving her free out in front of her with a half disgusted/half angry expression plastered on her face. _

_"Get bent." Kitten simply slurred, but just as she was about to stomp off to just simply head to first period, the redhead Soc grabbed her by her free arms wrist, and he gently, but yet roughly, slammed her against the lockers, him now standing right in front of her as his black haired-friend leaned over on her left side so she couldn't turn that direction to head off away from them._

_Kitten's eyes narrowed and began shooting off death-mock threats with absolute anger as she just continued staying there against the lockers, her books and other supplies remaining pinned to one of her hips, and her free arm remained down at her side._

_"The names Rick." the redhead boy bowed his head, introducing himself. "And this black-haired boy is my best pal since grade-school, Richard."_

_"Sup." Richard flipped his ash-black hair out of his face as he grinned at how beautiful he thought Kitten looked, even though that she was a Greaser, and not to mention only Ponyboy's age._

_Kitten clenched her sparkling white teeth, allowing them to show through her lips that were no longer closed, but Rick and Richard didn't mind that one bit._

_"Say, what's your name, Greasy?" Rick asked, and for the first time ever, he was using such a term to adress a Greaser in a flirting and nonhurtful way. Kitten's teeth clenched more as she watched Rick reach out his hand to gently tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear, but before he could lay even a finger on Kitten, she literally growled and snipped at his hand, not biting him, but deeply wishing she would've to get him and his friend to just lay off of her already. Rick had yanked his hand back before she got the chance to bite him, and he stared at her, wide-eyed for a couple of seconds, but then he smirked with satisfaction again, as if what Kitten just did never happened._

_"It's not of your buisness what my name is, PRICK! Just leave me alone before you make me late for first period!" Kitten snapped._

_"...Care to ditch first period, or better yet, the entire school day with Richard and myself, Greasy?" Rick swooned, battering his dark blue eyes a bit. Kitten's face began to turn red, and she started to slightly snarl from being so ticked now with these two male Socs who just wouldn't back off from her._

_"In your dreams!" Kitten growled "now lay off!"_

_"Aw, come on, girly! Why's such a hot girl like you such a Greasy bum like those other pieces of trash off the street?" Rick demanded, his voice now completely serious towards the oldest female Greaser in the Greasers gang. Man, he really shouldn't have raised his voice to Kitten, especially using those words, and right after Rick commanded that question from his lips, he was instantly greeted with one heck of a stinging slap across the face by none other than Kitten, who's face was now beating red like there was no tomorrow, and nothing but complete and pure rage was piled up in her emerald green eyes. Kitten then didn't take any hesitation to do the same thing to Richard, who was just gazing at her the whole time with this flirty look upon his face. Heck, Kitten was only Ponyboy's age here!_

_"Screw you guys! I told yawl to lay off!" Kitten snapped, and right after she exclaimed those words, she pushed the two male Socs away from her. Then, she headed down the hallway, continuing her way to Mr. Hicks's classroom for social studies._

Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Steve, and Johnny all exchanged confused expressions and concerned eyes for a couple of seconds, right before they all gazed back at Kitten, who was just innocently glancing back at the four of them.

"...So..." Two-Bit whispered, shrugging his shoulders while doing so. "What's this have to do with Baby?"

"Mr. Matthews!" came Mr. Morris's stern and loud voice, and five Greasers all jumped a bit, and Johnny couldn't help himself to release a yelp from finding Mr. Morris's voice suddenly ringing out unexpected. The classroom was now dead-silent, and all eyes were now glued on the wisecracker of the Greasers gang. Some Socs were grinning with full amusement, and some Regulars were starting to sink down in their chairs, thinking that this wouldn't end well since Two-Bit was a Greaser.

"Are you talking in my class when I'm tryin' to teach?! Mr. Morris commanded Two-Bit, who narrowed his eyes after he took in Mr. Morris's words. Two-Bit never adored Mr. Morris, and he clearly wasn't the main teacher Two-Bit joked around with, with playful jokes and whatnot. Two-Bit just hated Mr. Morris just as much as he hated certain Regulars that try to make secret plans to sneak into rumbles and attack either the Socs or the Greasers. It just depended on who was winning.

"Yes! I am! Do you have a problem with that?!" Two-Bit demanded the health classes teacher as he stood up from his seat, throwing his arms across his chest. Kitten's and Steve's eyes grew big as Johnny's mouth fell open a bit, and Ponyboy took down a secret gulp to help clear his throat from being so surprised to hear Two-Bit actually stand up and sass a teacher like that without it being a joke or a prank or anythin' like that.

Mr. Morris's eyes narrowed, anger sparking deeply off both of them, and he tightened both of his hands into tight fists. "Keith, you have detention after school today!"

"Aw, I'm used to it!" Two-Bit exclaimed, right before he was yanked back down by his arm into his chair by Steve, who thumped him over the back of his head afterwards. Mr. Morris rolled his eyes and groaned, then rubbed his temples a bit, before he turned back around towards the board, and he went on explaining about the different words that he had wrote down on the board.

"Anyway, Kitty, what's that have to do with Baby?" Johnny whispered with absolute concern, considering he deeply cared about Sondra.

"I was gettin' to that." Kitten informed, as matter of fact like.

"Well then get to the point!" Steve ordered in a whisper, but being very careful with his tone since he was speaking to Kitten, the toughest female Greaser all of Tulsa knows by heart, even though she never gets in trouble with the law or anything like that.

"Okay! Okay! So I entered Mr. Hicks's classroom..." Kitten continued on with the story.

_Kitten entered through the open doorway that entered Mr. Hicks's classroom, hearing what she usually did, which was some Regulars gasping quietly, while some other Socs began to chuckle, while some students began whispering, "Here comes a Grease.", "There's that Greaser again.", "Why should a grease head be in our class?", "Greasy as usual with no change one bit.", and many, many more, but being the tuff and tough girl that she was, Kitten just simply shot her classmates that were mocking her with many whispering words some death-mock stares, right before she took her seat at her desk, which was next to Sondra's desk, where Sondra was already sitting. _

_A confused expression formed on the oldest female Greasers face whence she realized how quietly Sondra was rapidly breathing in and out to herself, while she gently tugged on her jean jackets sleeves, then fiddled around with her fingertips like there was no tomorrow. Her eyes were like two marbles, filled with fear and nervousness, and her face was beating bright red, staining with hotness from feeling so guilty. Sondra was acting like that for two reasons. One, she was remembering her abuse, and two, she was also thinking about what Rebecca told her to do the night before by giving the Greasers all some space._

_"...Hey, Baby. Are you okay?" Kitten asked, but all she got in response was...nothing. All Kitten got was the view of Sondra continuing to gently pull and tug on her sleeves to keep her bruises and whatnot hidden from anyone's view and sights, but Kitten didn't realize any of her injuries...except a single bruise that was mixed together with the colors of black, blue, and purple._

_"Baby?" Kitten said again. However, no reply at all. Not even a single way or a little grin. Heck...Sondra wouldn't even look at Kitten, and she felt like her heart was going to pop from being squeezed and tightened so hard by so much guilt. She desperately hated what she was doing, ignoring Kitten and all, but Sondra wanted to follow Rebecca's instructions towards her that she was told about the night before._

"She ignored you too, Kit-Cat?" Johnny asked, both surprised and startled from finding that completely unexpected, with some sorrow added into his mood.

Kitten pouted a little as she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm afraid so, Johnnycake."

It was then time for Johnny to frown, as he began getting attacked by many swarming thoughts of Sondra no longer caring about him or liking him at all...and Johnny even questioned if Sondra ever liked him from the start...because for some reason...Johnny kept feeling hot and different around Sondra...but he didn't know why or how to explain it. Nevertheless, before anybody could tell it was coming, the bell rang its jingle, and it was now time for third period...which just so happened to be library for both Johnny and Sondra, while the rest of the gang went to opposite classes. How was this going to end if Sondra ignored Johnny in library?

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Well, not much to say here unless it's if yawl want more, review pretty please, and I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	15. Three Times The Trouble

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Thanks for the favorites and reviews, and a special thank you goes out to my very tuff, golden, awesome friends! Thank you, guys! I adore each and every one of you who take time to read and review my story! Thanks again! Still, _no flames _allowed on _any_ of my stories! All negative comments will be _deleated right away_! Please review if yawl want more chapters, and enjoy chapter 15! :D**

_Chapter 15_

Johnny entered the library for third period, feeling as nervous as ever, because he and Sondra actually shared the library together in that period, and she was refusing to talk to him and the rest of the gang who actually went to their school as well, who weren't in their third period either. The eldest Cade formed a pout after he checked out some books, realizing that Sondra was already sitting by herself at a round table with a book already opened, and her eyes glued on the page that she was on. Johnny knew that she wouldn't talk to him, so he didn't really see the point of trying to sit with her. She properly would've got up and leave to a different table in Johnny's mind, so all the oldest Cade did was sigh, sorrow glimmering in his black eyes.

Sondra had glanced up a little from one of the books that she had checked out and was reading to peak at Johnny, as her heart still felt like it was going to either explode or sink from feeling so overwhelmed with guilt. Sondra frowned herself a little, desperately wishing that she could speak up and invite Johnny to sit with her, but she knew Rebecca's rule for her to do. So, Sondra quietly sighed to herself, then focused her eyes back down on the page that she was reading in the book that she had checked out and was reading.

Johnny gazed around the library, seeing no more empty tables because Socs were mainly in his third period class, and it was an obvious fact if he tried to sit with any of them, he'd get jumped after class, or he'd get cursed away from the table, or both. Johnny didn't want to risk it, so the only other table that wasn't filled with Socs and didn't have Sondra sitting at it was this round table where _three_ female Regulars were sitting. A small grin tugged on Johnny's lips whence he laid eyes on those Regulars. He actually thought that they looked very pretty.

Shyly with his small grin still tuggting at his lips, Johnny made his way over to the round table that the three other female Regulars were, and he pulled out the last available chair that was there, resting his books down in front of him after getting himself pushed back in.

The three female Regulars, one with medium-lengthed blond hair, one with long ginger hair, and the last one with short, curly, brunette hair, all gazed at Johnny, and instantly, Johnny's grin faded from his face whence he watched the three female Regulars allow their eyes to grow big as their mouths dropped open half way.

"Oh..my..god...a _Greaser _is sittin' with us!" the female Regular with the long ginger hair whispered to her two friends, as she battered her teal eyes a bit to seem all innocent to Johnny, who could still heard what the three of them were saying, considering that hardly anybody was speaking to each other and the library is usually always quiet.

"...He doesn't look that bad, Jamie." the other female Regular with the medium-length blond hair pointed out, and Johnny instantly understood that the ginger-haired Regular must've been named Jamie.

"Lucky's right, Jamie." the last female Regular with the short, bouncy, curly, brunette hair told her ginger-haired friend, and the blond-headed one smiled beautifully with pride. Johnny's face started to heat up, but you couldn't tell.

Lucky? The blond-haired girl was named Lucky? Johnny knew by heart that, that name was very original, but he's never actually thought about an actual human being actually being named such a name. Then again, Johnny thought to himself with a single shrug to his shoulders, his best friends had some pretty original and funny names that he actually liked. Ponyboy, Sodapop, Kitten, and Keith's nickname was Two-Bit here, as in the hood (not a surprise there), while Darrel's nickname was Darry, like the food group. Out of everybody in the gang, Jocelyn, Cassidy, Dallas, and Steve were the only ones to have original names that sounded normal and worthy to label somebody with for their entire lives in other peoples minds, unlike Pony's, Soda's, and Kitten's names. But the three of them couldn't care less. They actually loved their own names, and Darry and Two-Bit were proud to have nicknames.

The female Regular with the short, curly, brunette hair grinned at Johnny, which certainly surprised him, and he watched as her greenish-bluish sparkled under the lights in the library. Johnny started feeling hotter, but he still wouldn't allow any part of his face to turn red or pink at all.

"What's your name, Grease?" Jamie asked, trying to keep her own pretty grin straight on her face, but it quickly vanished from embarrassment when Lucky nudged her a little roughly, giving her an annoyed glance a little with her dark brown eyes, right before she spoke up with the exact words to Johnny, "She didn't mean that. She meant to just ask what's your name."

Man, Johnny was heatin' up, but you still couldn't tell. He actually thought still that those three Regulars were actually very pretty.

"...Johnny...Johnny Cade..." Johnny shyly replied, and the female Regular with the short, curly, brunette hair smiled again, but this time bigger and a whole lot more beautiful. Her teeth was sparkling white, but Johnny could just sense the feeling that she and her two friends smoked, which he was correct about. The female Regular that Johnny was mainly concentrating on flipped her short, curly, bouncy, brunette hair a bit, right before she started adjusting her silky, pretty, silk-painted skarf around her neck a bit better, while Lucky gazed at her nails, and Jamie tucked a piece of her ginger hair behind her ear-pierced ear.

"Johnny Cade? That's a nice name. Nice to meet you, Johnny Cade. I'm Misty Stevens, but everybody calls me Mist, and these are my two best friends, Jamie Hook and Lucky Simons." the female Regular with the short, curly, brunette hair finally introduced herself, and Johnny now knew all three of their names.

Johnny forced himself to grin, even though he was still certainly surprised that these three pretty Regulars were actually talking to him, a Greaser.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you three." Johnny said, bowing his head at the three girls who he thought were still sort of pretty, and he looked down at one of the three books that he had checked out, flipping it open to the first page. He didn't need to see Misty, Jamie, and Lucky to know that they were deeply questioning why he was actually sitting with them. Secretly, Sondra was wondering the exact same thing, because she was witnessing all that was happening from the round table that she was sitting at all by herself. Man, did Sondra feel boiling hot all the sudden, and her eyes were now narrowed in a sharp and pointed way. Her face was now beating red, and she didn't like those three girls one bit. She actually knew who they were...and man, that wasn't a good thing one bit.

"You know, Greasers aren't bad. We're not actually dark and evil hoods like others say we are." Johnny informed Jamie, Lucky, and their leader, Misty, not lifting up his head to see the three female Regulars whence he said that. "We're just protective and only fight for self-defense."

"...You're the boy who murdered that Bob Soc a few months ago, aren't you?" Jamie then asked.

Johnny instantly tensed up, and his black eyes grew big, them staying glued onto the page in his book that he was reading, and the dark memories from not too many months at all back when he stabbed and killed Bob Sheldon.

"...Like I said, we only fight for self-defense. He was ordering his pals to drown my best, best friend...I had no choice." Johnny nervously and shyly gulped, but he totally wasn't expecting what was about to come next from Misty, Jamie, and Lucky, who were now all smirking at each other, right before the three of them gazed back at the eldest Cade, who still wasn't looking up from his book, and they grew their dazzling smiles again.

"...You know something, Johnny Cade? Self-defense mixin' together with you is actually pretty hot." Misty swooned, her voice now completely in a flirty tone, and right after Johnny got a moment to take in what she just said to him, his heart took one major leap in his chest, as he quickly glanced up at the three female Regulars, his eyes bigger then ever before when he just watched Misty, Lucky, and Jamie smile at him.

"...Excuse me?" Johnny asked, half startled/half confused/half shocked, all in one. He truly did catch what Misty just said to him, but he just wanted to hear it again to make sure what just happened, actually happened, and it wasn't just his mind messing with him.

Lucky and Jamie exchanged their smiles as Misty battered her eyes a bit and chuckled in a romantic, flirty way at the oldest Cade.

"I believe that I was callin' you hot, Johnny...which I believe you are." Misty informed, and Jamie and Lucky instantly nodded their heads with absolute, full agreement, after Misty spoke all that she just said.

"...Excuse me?" Johnny said again, but this time he was only confused and serious, because he just met these three girls, and they were already calling him hot and whatnot. Johnny was just so dang surprised to hear all that he was hearing at that moment that, that was all he could say, no more, no less.

Misty's, Jamie's, and Lucky's smiles grew bigger with even more beauty, and Johnny froze, completely surprised and nothing but surprised and shocked whence he watched Misty slowly stretch her arm out across the small round table that the four of them were sitting at. Sondra's mouth slightly fell open, and her face grew redder, and she couldn't help herself to start making snarl-like growls to herself, after she witnessed Misty gently touch Johnny's cheek, then begin stroking his face with her fingertips.

"...Mist is right, Johnny Cade...you're very handsome...and strong lookin'...and just simply sexy..." Lucky giggled quietly, but her two friends and Johnny could still hear everything that was being said. Sondra continued watching, and to her surprise, Johnny's face actually showed the color of a bright, bright red, and he grew his handsome, shy grin as he took a gentle grasp of Misty's wrist, considering she was still stroking his cheek with her hand. Man, was Sondra's face now beating red with this ticked off look shining off both of her pale blue eyes, as if they were about to turn blood red or something like that.

"...You girls think I'm handsome?" Johnny chuckled a bit with his question in a flattering way, considering he hardly ever heard anybody ever call him handsome or strong, or sexy, or just anything in a flattering way in that manner.

Lucky only smiled bigger as Jamie nodded her head, and Misty giggled out the words, "Yep. We can tell you're different from most boys 'round this crap hole that we must refer to as school."

Johnny didn't know what to say there, so he only shrugged his shoulders, and he began using his hand that was gently grasping Misty's wrist to gently and relaxingly running his fingertips up and down Misty's arm, stopping down at her elbow and heading back up to her wrist. Misty showed her sparkling white teeth again in this new beautiful smile of hers that was now plastered on her face, and she couldn't help herself to just let out some soft, pretty giggles from her lips.

"H-Hey, that tickles." Misty giggled when feeling the feather-light touches of Johnny's fingers gently and relaxingly making their way up and down her arm, her hand now relaxing on his shoulder.

Johnny grew a satisfied smile, and his black eyes began sparkling with joy. "You know...you three girls are actually beautiful yourselves...you all have pretty smiles and sweet little laughs."

Misty continued to smile widely and giggle at the eldest Cade, while Lucky looked down at her skirt with a flattered look now upon her face; she now beginning to gently smooth out the fabrics of her skirts ruffles. Jamie's eyes shimmered with happiness as her cheeks turned bright, bright pink towards what Johnny just complimented her, Lucky, and Misty on.

Sondra was still gazing at the whole scene and hearing every quiet word that was being spoken and giggled, and boy, she was now full of rage, but she didn't know why. She was actually afraid of those three girls, considering what they do with different boys all around, but at that moment, Sondra was only furious with them, especially when she heard Misty, Lucky, and Jamie all agree with each other that Johnny was hot, strong, and just plain sexy. The fourteen-year-old Regular sat her book down on the table that she was still sitting at all by herself after marking what page she was on, and she threw her arms across her chest, scowling with deep rage towards Jamie, Lucky, and Misty.

"Three times the trouble..." Sondra growled to herself under her breath. It was already bad enough to Sondra that she was ignoring Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Steve, Kitten, and Johnny, and not to mention the fact about what all happened the night before, and the even bigger secret that she and Iris was abused, but now, she was witnessing the only best, best friend of hers, who she didn't even know if he still liked or cared about her, hanging out with three other _dangerous _female Regulars, who were actually flirting with him, especially Jamie's and Lucky's leader, Misty.

Sondra was just glad that Johnny didn't tell Jamie, Lucky, and/or Misty that they had great eyes, because the fourteen-year-old girl remembered how she and Johnny complimented each other on each others eyes the afternoon before at the tree house, and Johnny didn't even tell any of the three Regulars that he was chatting with that either of them had great eyes. To be honest, that was because Johnny's favorite eye color was pale blue...and neither Misty, Jamie, and/or Lucky had that color or shade at all in their eyes.

"Say, Johnny, there's enough of you to go 'round...care to hang out with us for the rest of the day?" Misty asked.

Johnny's grin instantly vanished off from his face after Misty asked that question, and he sighed, now pouting at the three pretty Regulars, who were now looking absoluetly concerned towards him.

"I'm sorry," Johnny apologized "but I have to hang out with my gang and try to get a friend of ours to talk to us."

Lucky cocked an eyebrow, and Sondra's eyes slightly grew big, thinking to herself that Johnny just couldn't be talking about her. Maybe he was referring to some other friend who was a Greaser as well?

"How good is he a friend if he won't talk?" Lucky concerndly asked.

Johnny bit down on his lip as he took his hand away from Misty's arm, and she took her arm back in a slow and gentle manner. Johnny locked his fingers around each other and played with his fingertips.

"Actually, she's a she...and she just so happens to be a great friend. She's just very shy and quiet." Johnny explained.

"Oh...we see." Misty nodded her head with a simple expression on her face, but when Johnny smiled and looked down at his lap for a moment from being so surprised that these three Regulars were actually understanding him and whatnot, Misty, Lucky, and Jamie narrowed their eyes at each other in upset manners, and they quietly growled like a small pack of junk-yard dogs, but when Johnny smiled back up, the three girls quickly made their faces look sweet and innocent again as they grinned back, as if they were never looking ticked off or anything like that.

"We understand, Johnny...but hey...you care to catch up again soon? You know, just the four of us? Maybe head to the movies or somethin' like that?" Misty questioned with a flirty wink added into her speaking.

Johnny's smile grew more and even more handsome, and his black eyes sparked up with even more excitement, as he nodded his head at Misty's question.

"Sure, I'd like that. However, I can't tonight...I'm planning to head out to the park with my gang tonight." Johnny told the three female Regulars. Believe it or not, that was a lie. Johnny and the rest of the Curtis's Greaser gang were actually heading over to Tim's party for Greasers only, and before heading there later that night, Johnny wanted to see if he can catch Sondra and actually have her talk to him to see if he could tutor her after school in the tree house again, considering that Johnny very much liked tutoring her.

"Oh, that's okay. Jamie, Lucky, and I are going shopping later on anyway. Heck, we may be Regulars, but that doesn't mean we can't have any fun, ya know? And you may be a Greaser, but you're not like 'em other hoods." Misty pointed out.

"...Those other 'hoods' are my friends, Mist. They're actually not bad people either, as long as you don't tick them off. Anyway," Johnny was just eager to change the topic, considering the fact that he absoluetly hated it when others judged his friends when they don't even know who they truly are.

Sondra continued to watch, feeling pain and rage all pressure down and squeeze her heart, and she went on growling some more snarl-like sounds to herself. If there was main thing that Sondra hated, it was those three Regulars. Even though Sondra was a Regular herself, that wasn't the case. Misty, Jamie, and Lucky might've looked like precious and beautiful ordinary Regulars, but they were actually the whole opposite. They might've been pretty looking, but they sure as heck weren't innocent and precious. However, Johnny just didn't see that, and he went on chuckling and talking to Misty, Lucky, and Jamie the whole third period, which absoluetly ticked Sondra off even more, but she still didn't understand way.

Before anybody could see it coming, the bell rang its ringing jingle, echoing its sound throughout the entire school, meaning that third period was officially over. Misty, Lucky, and Jamie each gave Johnny some pounting puppy-dog faces, and they allowed their eyes to grow in a begging way. Johnny knew that type of face, considering Cassidy used it on him anytime she wanted him to wrap around her finger or melt in her hands, but at that moment, he had to head off to meet up with Two-Bit, Kitten, Ponyboy, and Steve like usual, but first he had to stop by his locker to swap his books and other supplies for his next three classes. Misty, Jamie, and Lucky, on the other hand, had to stay in the library for their study-hall.

"Do you _have _to go, Johnny?" Lucky asked in a complaining, but yet adorably pleading, little girl tone, and she battered her gorgeous eyes, making Johnny feel very hot upon his face once again for about the millionth time since he met those three female Regulars in third period.

"I'm sorry, but it's not my choice, gals. I'll meet up with you 'round some time though, okay?" Johnny asked, not being aware that Sondra was pretending to still gather up the few books that she had checked out so she could continue to hear and witness what all was being said and done with her own eyes and ears inbetween Johnny, and those three female Regulars that Sondra still desperately hated with her whole golden, but yet wounded, heart.

Misty, Jamie, and Lucky exchanged their pouty faces and puppy-dog eyes for a couple of quiet seconds, but then they each sighed together and gave in, saying to Johnny at the exact same time, "Okay."

Johnny gave them each one of his handsome, shy smiles, allowing his face to actually turn bright, bright red towards the three pretty girls yet again, and he tucked a piece of his heavily hair-greased, jet-black hair behind his ear, pinning his books to one of his hips as he waved good-bye, then started trailing simply away from Misty, Jamie, and Lucky...not even realizing how they were now smirking in a satisfied and proud manner, while they stared at his rear, and that's seriously not such a pleasure to have being stared at one bit.

Sondra's eyes shot huge, and her face grew dark red all over again, her now realizing exactly what those three female Regulars were after with Johnny. Man, Sondra was so ticked off that she thought to herself that people would have to invent a new word for how much rage was eating alive at her. Sondra thought desperately that she was going to tell those girls off good, but she knew that she couldn't teach them their lesson for messing with Johnnycake in school, otherwise she'd get in huge trouble with the principal like what happened when she fought Joey, so Sondra just stomped out of the library, her books tightly being clenched to her stomach with one of her clenched fists, while her other stayed at her side, and all Sondra could think at that moment was that Misty, Lucky, and Jamie were going to pay _big time_.

Sondra started dying down her anger as she trudged down the hallway, still plotting on how she should get even on Misty, Jamie, and Lucky as she stopped at her locker, actually tuning out and ignoring other students, especially the Socs, harsh and such foul language and mocking laughter about her being a Regular for a change. Sondra was too busy caught up in thinking about keeping Johnny safe from those three female Regulars to even care about those other immature students, so she just tuned them out, as if they weren't even there.

"STILL WEARING NON-DECENT CLOTHES I SEE, YOU UGLY REGULAR!"

"YOU'RE NOT WELCOMED HERE OR ANYWHERE, YA HEAR?!"

"NOBODY LIKES YOU, BROAD! GO DIE IN A HOLE ALREADY!"

"YOU'RE SO WORTHLESS!"

"YOU'RE SUCH A FAT, UGLY, WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP, REGUAR!"

Nope. Not a single word bothered Sondra, and heck, that was one big change for the fourteen-year-old Regular. Sondra took in and let out deep breaths to herself, still deeply hating everything she witnessed with her own eyes and ears in the library with Johnny and those three other female Regulars, who weren't who they seemed to be.

Sondra opened her locker, tucking away all of her first three periods supplies and books, and she took out her new books and other supplies that she needed for her next three classes, along with her copy of _Gone With The Wind_, considering she just loved reading it so much. But to Sondra's surprise, when she closed her locker and turned around, she spotted Johnny standing there across the hall, looking through a different locker, which must've been his locker, considering many pictures of the Greasers gang and whatnot was taped on its open door. Sondra was just surprised that she never caught that, and she knew Johnny by heart.

Sondra understood that Rebecca told her to just simply give the Greasers some space, but the fourteen-year-old Regular knew that she had been doing that for the whole day so far, and it was killing her to death. Also, considering that she knew what those Misty, Lucky, and Jamie Regulars were up to, she knew that she just couldn't stay back and watch those three female Regulars attempt to do what they were planning to do with Johnny, and then just leave him alone like a piece of trash.

So, not knowing exactly what to say without speaking throughout the whole school day so far, Sondra panicked, then tossed her book of _Gone With The Wind _at Johnny, causing it to hit him in the side of his head, and the eldest Cade released a yelp as he dropped his books and other supplies that he had been holding when swapping his first three period books, to his next three classes books. With his black eyes now huge, and one of his hands now rubbing the side of his head from where he was struck accidentally by Sondra, Johnny gazed down at the tile floor of the schools hallway, noticing the copy of the book _Gone With The Wind_.

With complete confusion, the eldest Cade snatched up the book from the floor, and Sondra quickly trotted over to him, taking the book from his hand with a gentle grasp as he just gazed at her with the complete confusion, but also shock, because he was surprised that Sondra was right there in front of him and actually grinning at him now.

"Baby?" Johnny questioned.

"Hey, Johnnycake!" Sondra greeted, those being the first words she's ever spoken to any of the Greasers that day. Fake cheerfulness was in her voice, and Johnny could tell that, but he thought that it was better if he didn't say anything. "Say, I see that you found my copy of _Gone With The Wind_...weird, huh?"

Johnny placed his hands on his hips and confusingly cocked an eyebrow at the fourteen-year-old Regular. "You mean I found it because it somehow was_ thrown_ at my head?"

Embarrassedly, Sondra's face turned bright red, and she wiped her phony grin off from her lips, biting down on her bottom lip afterwards, as she embarrassedly scratched the back of her head.

"...Sorry, Johnnycake. I was just trying to get your attention." Sondra embarrassedly sighed, and to her surprise, Johnny actually smiled at her, as if his confusion was never there.

"Well, you succeeded." Johnny chuckled "now, what's goin' on? Why were you ignoring Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-Bit, Steve, and myself all through today? And what are you gettin' my attention for now?"

Sondra only gazed at the oldest Cade, not wanting to tell him about what Rebecca instructed her to do, otherwise Johnny would just feel both bad and guilty. So, all she did was say the exact words, "Please don't ask me that. All I'm wonderin' is if you're up for some more tutoring in the tree house after school. You want to?"

Still completely surprised, Sondra watched as Johnny's smile grew bigger and brighter, even more handsome, and his black eyes shimmered with joy as he nodded his head without any hesitation after hearing and taking in Sondra's question.

"Sure, Baby! I'd love to tutor you some more after school! I was actually plannin' to ask you!" Johnny shared.

Sondra's eyes grew big a bit from feeling absoluetly surprised. "...You were?" she asked, bewildered a bit.

Johnny proudly smirked as he nodded his head. "Yeah, I was. Well, I guess I'll head down to the tree house after school, meeting you there?"

For the first time ever since the night before, Sondra actually grew an actual smile, and she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear as she nodded her head. "Tuff enough, Johnnycake."

Johnny chuckled a bit, feeling absoluetly glad that Sondra was getting used to speaking Greaser terms and the Greasers gangs language. "Then I'll meet up with you. See you in a few, alright?"

"...Yeah, alright." Sondra's face lit up bright, bright red, as well as her ears did, and Johnny's face stained with the color of a bright, bright red as well. The two of them exchanged smiles for a few quiet seconds, and then Johnny gathered up his books and supplies up from the floor after dropping them, saying good-bye once more to Sondra before heading off to fourth period.

Sondra smiled greatly again, but then it faded into a ticked off glare, and only because those three female Regulars popped back into her thoughts. Sure, Sondra thought to herself. She was going to the tree house to meet up with Johnny for some more tutoring after school...but first, she was going to meet up with Misty, Lucky, and Jamie in town for some revenge...

**A/N: Ohh! Cliffhanger! Sorry for taking a bit to update, but I'm packed with school here, so please understand my updates! Anyway, if yawl want more, review. Otherwise, I can possibly lose my writing spirit, and I don't want that to happen. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll read yawl in the next, if I get reviews, that is. Thanks, everybody! :D :D :D :D**


	16. Revenge on Three Girls and An Invitation

**A/N: Hello, yo, hi, everybody Still thanks for the favorites and reviews, and another special thank you goes out to my very tuff, golden, awesome friends! Thank you, guys! I adore each and every one of you who take time to read and review my story! Thanks again! Still, _no flames _allowed on _any_ of my stories! All negative comments will be _deleated right away_! _Please review if yawl want more chapters_, and enjoy chapter 16! :D**

_Chapter 16_

Sondra stomped her way out of the school. The final bell had finally rang its last jingle of the day, and everybody was now flooding their way out of the high school, carrying what each of them need in their book-bags that were either being worn on their backs or slung over their shoulders. In everybody's eyes, the sky was crystal blue, and the few fluffy white clouds were gently flowing and swaying their different ways by the gentle, cool breeze that was slightly blowing, and the sun was like a golden ray to heaven. However, in Sondra's eyes, which were narrowed and full of rage, all she could see was one word...revenge. The sky to her was ash-black, like the deadly shadows from hell, and the white puffy clouds were stormy and dark gray, blowing off different loud booms of thunder, while sparking off many bolts of flashing lightning shocks, and lastly, the smooth and gentle breeze was nothing but so strong and cold winds that felt like sharp pieces of ice were being flung right in your face, but that didn't bother Sondra one bit.

At first, Sondra stayed out of sight, keeping herself hidden behind the brick railing of the staircase that led up to the high school, and she peaked around at the other students that were laughing at jokes, while some did cartwheels and threw the football back and forth to each other as they walked (the athletic ones, in other words.), and others just simply walked with some friends of theirs, chatting away about what homework and studying they had, including what yet another boring day at such a crap hole, but was mainly known as high school, ruined what they could've done that day to make that day of their lives worthy and exciting to look back on in the future.

But Sondra ignored all of the athletic ones, and the wisecrackers too, while she also did the same on just all of the other students, including Kitten, Ponyboy, Steve, and Johnny (Two-Bit has detention with Mr. Morris.), because if they caught her, her 'mission' to get revenge on Misty, Jamie, and Lucky on what they're planning to do on Johnny would be ruined. Then, as if it was right on que, here came Misty, Jamie, and Lucky, who were walking together as they showed each other their painted nails and shared where they got their outfits. Man, they were such girly girls, and if there was one thing Sondra hated, her being a tomboy and all, it was having to deal with such girly girl Regulars.

Nevertheless, Sondra peaked out from behind the brick railing a bit more, making sure none of the Greasers that went to high school with her was gazing in her direction. Luckily, they weren't. Steve was climbing into the drivers seat of Two-Bit's old, souped-up car, with Kitten climbing into the passengers seat, and Ponyboy got into the back. That was when Sondra realized that Johnny must've been heading out to the tree house, which was a part of the fourteen-year-old Regulars plan. Then was her chance. Sondra quickly, but yet quietly, trotted on her tip-toes after the three female Regulars, whom she made up her mind on what to do for revenge for what they think they're going to do with Johnny.

Before Sondra knew it, she was following Misty, Lucky, and Jamie off of school ground, while the rest of the students, even Johnny, Ponyboy, Kitten, and Steve, didn't realize how she was secretly and quietly following the three other female Regulars. Every time Jamie, Lucky, and Misty stopped from swearing they could hear footsteps following them, or one of them asked about a strange sound, Sondra either jumped into a bush, or dove into an alley, or a lot, in a more simple term for Greasers to adore more. Yep, Sondra was clever, but if you ever ticked her off, like Misty, Lucky, and Jamie did...you better run.

After about fifteen or so minutes of nothing but sneaking and following, Sondra was able to catch a break whence she witnessed Misty, Jamie, and Lucky enter a lot, which was actually _their _lot, and Sondra backed up against one of the flat brick, gray walls, peaking in a bit enough to see Misty, Lucky, and Jamie now kicking back with cancer sticks. Their ends were lighting up bright orange from the heating ashes, and Misty was blowing out perfect smoke rings as she laid there, back being pressed against the wall, while Lucky sat there on the concrete ground, one of her arms resting on her knee of her pointed up leg as she used her other hand to take in a drag of her cigarette. Lastly, Jamie was simply kicking back beside Misty, taking about ten seconds with each drag she took from her weed, as she tried unsuccessfully each time to blow perfect smoke rings like Misty.

"Can you believe that Donny? Actually believing we actually _care _about him?" Jamie asked, attempting to blow yet another perfect smoke ring, but she still couldn't get one.

Lucky smirked and rolled her eyes, chuckling at what Jamie just said in a devious manner, as she nodded her head, then took another drag of her cigarette. But Misty, on the other hand, only rolled her eyes, hers in an annoyed manner though, towards both of her best friends behavior.

"Oh, come on, girls. His name is _Johnny_, not Donny, and I get that we don't care or really like him in a personal way one bit, but since when did we even feel those emotions for any boys that we had our pleasures with? Come on, let's actually remember the fact that Johnny Cade is _extremely sexy _here. I still can't get the way how he walked away from us when leaving the library out of my mind." Misty swooned, taking in a deep breath that was filled with dreams through her nose, then letting it out.

After saying that, Lucky grinned as she began fanning herself with her free hand, and Jamie made those type of cat sounds when you think somebody is extremely good looking.

"I just sure hope he doesn't sweat easily." Lucky shared what was on her mind, before she stuck the end of her weed back into her mouth, and took yet another drag of it, proudly smirking when doing so.

Jamie then nodded her head with absolute agreement. "He sure does blush very simply though. Remember when we sweet talked him? Heck, I wouldn't mind sleeping with him though, one way or the other...it'd be a late, hot night...he wouldn't need to wear anything...there's plenty of room under the covers...I'd be so thrilled to sleep in his strong arms." Jamie whistled, which instantly earned her a high-five and some wild cheers from Lucky, and Misty grew a satisfied grin at Jamie, nodding her head a few times when doing so.

"Man, that boy has a low self-eestem..." Misty then came into the conversation, smacking her lips together and letting out an "Mmmm..." sound before she finished what she wanted to say with the exact words, "Boys with low self-eestem are _always _the easy ones to drag in."

Sondra's hands tightened into hardcore, clenched fists, and she angrily clenched her teeth together. Her eyes narrowed in a sharp and pointed expression, making it seem like any moment that they were going to turn from pale blue, to blood red. Her face was now beating red, and those three female Regulars laughter that was now going on was echoing through her ears and mind, swarming around her and making her a whole lot angrier. Man, Sondra thought that she was filled with rage earlier that day in the library...but now, she was _extremely_ proven wrong.

Without any hesitation, Sondra stomped into sight of the three other female Regulars at the end of the lot, Misty, Lucky, and Jamie still too caught up in thinking and talking about Johnny as they giggled about each others words and smoked their cigarettes to even realize that Sondra was now standing there in a tough position, her arms thrown across her chest with her legs spread apart, and her eyes were remaining in that pointed angry way. Her face was beating dark red, redder then ever before for what was like the first time ever, considering that Sondra has _never _been filled with that much rage before.

"HEY, FREAKS! YEAH, YOU THREE!" Sondra hollered out, and that completely earned her Misty's, Jamie's, and Lucky's full, undivided attention, they no longer talking and chuckling with each other as they smoked their weeds. Instead, Lucky and Jamie now had completely confused expressions on their faces, and they were cocking eyebrows at Sondra, while all Misty did was cross her arm that wasn't holding her weed over her stomach, and she rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner towards the fourteen-year-old Regular.

"Oh, great. Who invited the preschooler?" Misty asked in a voice that was mixed together with an annoyed and angry tone, while she and her two best friends kept their eyes on Sondra, who then threw her arms down to her sides after she heard Misty say that about her.

Misty, Jamie, and Lucky were actually Johnny's age. Sixteen. And considering that Sondra was fourteen, they considered her a preschooler, which was sort of rude, but that's some older kids for you. But since these girls were two years older then her, one side of Sondra was debating to just back off and leave the revenge like it was never going to happen...but Sondra's other side was the one that was eating her alive, which was the side that she was actually following...give these girls what they deserve from what they're planning to do to Johnny, and what they've been doing to tons of other boys in the past.

"Who are you calling a preschooler, you giant?! I may be younger, but that doesn't mean I-" Sondra began saying everything that was on her mind, but she was cut off.

"Who are _you _calling a giant, short stack?!" Misty demanded as she threw her cigarette down to the ground after she tossed some ashes in Sondra's direction, then she stepped on it with her high heel, putting it out, and she placed her hands on her hips. Lucky got up from sitting down on the concrete ground and dusted the back of her plaid, knee-length skirt off, now glaring straight off at Sondra when doing so. Lastly, Jamie threw her arms across her chest and scowled herself.

Sondra rolled her eyes at yet another nickname that Misty gave her for her height. Sondra was actually just a tiny little bit of smidges off from looking like a fourteen-year-old, but she wasn't like Johnny, who looked fourteen when he was really sixteen. Sondra knew that she hated being just a tiny bit shorter then her actual age, but she couldn't do anything about it, nor think about it at that time.

"You know, we can just stay here for hours and insult names back and forth, but I ain't got the time for that. I got some place I need to be, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" Sondra asked, her voice growing impatient with so much rage getting so close to unlocking, which is when she would seriously start kicking some butt.

"What's there to even reason with you, Grumpy the dwarf?!" Misty commanded with anger now completely swarming in her voice, but she wasn't full with as much rage as Sondra was. Not by a long shot.

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S IT!" Sondra snapped, her fists now trembling and turning bright red from being clenched so tightly and hard. Man, it was almost like her fingers were about to snap, but she was a very tough girl. "YOU WANT TO KNOW SOMETHIN', YOU UGLY PIECES OF -?! YOU CAN CALL ME ANYTHING YOU WANT, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN'T CALL ME?! A PREDATOR!"

"Excuse me?! Do you kiss your father with that mouth?!" Lucky demanded, coming into the conversation as she stayed by Misty's side, and Jamie was a little futhur back. Actually, that was the truth, whether Misty, Lucky, and/or Jamie admitted it or not. That's what they were. Predators, or people who've used certain other people for sexual desires.

"Trust me, I don't even come close to either of my folks! But what 'bout _you _three?! Do you _french _your dads with those tongues after they've been inside other boys mouths?!" Sondra sassed, not giving a crap if those girls were older then her or what. She was fully agreeing with the side of her that was speaking to her to get revenge on Misty, Jamie, and Lucky for what they were planning to do to Johnny. But to Sondra's surprise, the only thing that she got in response to what she just blurted out was Jamie and Lucky exchanging unsatisfied facial expressions, while Misty crossed her arms over her breasts, rolling her eyes in an uncaring way.

"Look, young one, it's none of your buisness what we do. Besides, after we heard Johnny stutter out his name when we first asked about it, we figured he'd be nieve enough to allow us to get him high, or drunk, or possibly both at once, so we can easily have our chance at-" Misty began explaining the whole plan that she, Jamie, and Lucky were up to, but before she could go on and finish, she was cut right off.

"You guys are _NOT _going to 'get down with it' with my friend!" Sondra blurted out with her anger and rage beginning to slip out into her voice.

Misty rolled her eyes in an even more annoyed manner towards the fourteen-year-old Regulars behavior. "Oh, _puh_-lease! You can't tell Jamie, Lucky, and/or myself who we can and can not have our sexual pleasures with!"

Jamie and Lucky nodded their heads with absolute, full agreement, but Sondra quickly shook her head back and forth, as she took in and let out big, deep, hearable breaths of rage, and a hot sweat of pure rage began forming and trickling down her forehead and neck. Her deep, big, hearable breaths were almost like deep snarls and growls from a ticked off, vicious, hardcore dog.

"No! No! I _won't _let you freaks touch him!" Sondra exclaimed, and it was obvious to Misty, Jamie, and Lucky that she was referring to the eldest Cade.

"What are _you _going to do 'bout it, shrimp?" Jamie finally came into the conversation, but only with asking that question, and she took the few steps until she was now directly standing by the opposite side of Misty that Lucky wasn't standing on.

Sondra's face then grew hotter, and her teeth clenched tightly, as she finally narrowed her eyes for Misty, Lucky, and Jamie to spot, but the three of them still had those uncaring, unsatisfied pouts glued onto their faces.

"Ohh...I'll _show _you what I'm going to do!" Sondra murmured, but she wasn't exactly quiet when she growled out those words, and when Misty, Jamie, and/or Lucky didn't see it coming, Sondra bolted up to the three of them, she being as fast as a bolt of lightning, considering that she sometimes just ran the track at the high school just for fun, and to Misty's, Lucky's, and Jamie's surprise, Sondra actually threw one of her clenched fists foward, nailing Misty straight in the nose.

"OW!" Misty cried out with pain, but not a single tear was shed. Only blood was. The red liquid started to trickle down from the inside of the sixteen-year-old, brunette-haired girl, and Jamie's and Lucky's eyes shot huge with shock as they both quickly placed their hands on Misty's shoulders, keeping her from falling down after Sondra had striked her hard in the nose and drew blood in just one crushing blow.

"Mist!" Jamie gasped, quickly snatching out a tissue from her dark purple jeans pocket with one of her hands, while her other hand stayed holding onto one of Misty's shoulders, and she began to gently, but yet quickly, wiping away the dripping blood from Misty's nose. Nevertheless, Misty smacked her hand away whence new blood just continued to come out of her nose like it was its job, drentching the white tissue completely, and Jamie just dropped it to the concrete ground, wiping away the few blood drops from her hand on her dark green, striped sweater right after.

"Mist, are you alright?!" Lucky asked, her voice slightly panicking and filled with worry.

But all Lucky got in response was deep, angry, hearable breaths now being taken in and out from hers and Jamie's best friend. Slowly, Misty lifted her head from looking down at the concrete ground, exposing her face that was now red and her teeth, which were now clenched, and her eyes were narrowed, her brunette curls slightly hanging in her face, along with the red liquid was still dripping out from her nose, continuing its way down off her face until it fell freely to the concrete. Misty glared right off at Sondra, who was still scowling furiously right back, but she was now holding out both of her tightly clenched fists in front of her, meaning that she was ready for a fight.

Misty narrowed her eyes as she wiped away the blood from trickling out of her nose with her shirts sleeve, but more blood continued to drip and drop out of her nose, keeping her eyes pointed off at Sondra the whole time.

"...Jamie, Lucky..." Sondra instructed in a snarling-like tone. "...Take her down."

Without any hesitation, Lucky and Jamie shot death-mock glares off at Sondra, who was now clenching her two fists even tighter, meaning that she was telling them to bring it on. So, that's what was done. Jamie was the first one to quickly rush up to the fourteen-year-old girl, but Sondra kicked out one of her legs and striked Jamie in the stomach with one heck of a strong karate kick, which she had learned from Rebecca and Charlie so she could use it when she desperately needed to protect her from somebody or more then one person.

"WHY YOU WORTHLESS -!" Jamie cursed, quickly leaping back up onto her feet after she was forced to the cold concrete ground after Sondra had nailed her right in the stomach with a single karate kick. However, to make it worse for Sondra, Jamie actually threw a punch at her, and thanks to the ring that she was wearing, a small cut had slit onto Sondra's face, upon her right cheek and just a little bit below her eye.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' A WORTHELESS -. YOU -!" Sondra hollered right back, trying her best to shake off with what Jamie just did to her, but it was obvious that it made her a whole lot _angrier _and more violent with her fighting skills. Remember that Sondra was one heck of an amazing fighter, but she usually only fought if somebody dared to physically or sexually harm her first. In other words, Sondra only broke out in fighting for self-defense, like when Joey pushed her and called her a filfty Regular.

Jamie had attempted placing Sondra in a headlock so she could choke and strangle her to death, but right when Jamie had slipped her arms around Sondra's neck, pinning her head to her side, Sondra actually bit down heavily and painfully on Jamie's closest wrist, causing her to release a loud howl of pain as she yanked her arms away from being around the fourteen-year-old girls neck, not giving her a single choke since Sondra reacted quickly with biting down on her wrist.

"YOU STUPID, CLUELESS -! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU - ARE?!" Jamie cussed on more and more, rubbing her wrist from where she was turning red after being bitten hard a bit, but before she could allow Sondra to say a single word back, Jamie flew one of her hands foward and slapped Sondra clearly across her face with one heck of a sharp and stinging force.

"OW! OH! YOU'RE ASKIN' FOR IT NOW, -!" Sondra warned as she gently touched her cheek from where Jamie slapped her, but before she could dare throw a single punch or strike out a single kick, here came Lucky into the fight, and she kicked Sondra hard in the gut. Sondra fell straight onto her knees, beginning to moan and groan in pain to herself, but just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, Jamie punched her straight in the corner of her mouth, followed by another strong kick by Lucky, which instantly sent Sondra to fall straight back onto the cold concrete.

Sondra began feeling tears forming in the corner of her eyes from remembering dark and painful memories of hers and Iris's folks, Spring's cursing echoing in her ears, and Dominic's physical beatings making her entire body, both inside and out, feel completely sore and numb. Just tasting the blood beginning to drip into her mouth from its corner after Jamie slamming her with a single punch, and seeing both Jamie and Lucky both smirking with pride right over her as they continued to punch and kick her like she was nothing but a worthless piece of trash blowing around on a sidewalk, Sondra kept remembering how she seriously got abused enough at home. Finally after what felt like hours, but was truly only twenty or so seconds, Lucky and Jamie had stopped ganging up on Sondra, who opened her now tearful eyes, her body feeling completely sore now, and her face was stinging, to see the two girls smirking down at her as they gave each other a high-five, then started chuckling as they walked away from Sondra's body.

No matter how sore she was now feeling, Sondra, moaning and groaning to herself when doing so, while she wiped away some blood from the corner of her mouth and new small and hardly noticeable cuts from her face, also some tears from her now completely innocent and sorrow filled eyes while doing so, forced herself onto her side, pushing herself up a bit with her numb arms to gaze directly at Jamie and Lucky, who were now there behind Misty, still smirking widely as their best friend and leader did the same.

"Well, well, shorty, it looks like you lost...and you should know...no matter what you say or do," Misty lectured in a soft, but yet very uncaring tone towards the fourteen-year-old Regular, while she continued to smirk, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

Sondra tried her best to keep her pout from forming on her face, but she couldn't help it from starting to tug on her lips. She felt disappointed in herself, and not to mention defeated. What a stupid plan, Sondra thought to herself in a sighing tone in her mind. She figured what Misty was about to say to her was something that she deserved...but right after Sondra heard what Misty's words were, she was proved wrong.

"No matter what you say or do, Johnny Cade will be a pleasure to use." Misty finished what she wanted to say with an approving nod added in, and Jamie and Lucky joined in with her nodding.

Right after Sondra heard that, it was as if her sorrow and defeated feelings never exsisted. Despite the pain that she was in, Sondra managed to turn her painful pout into showing her clenched teeth again, and her tears quickly dried up, making it look like she was never about to cry one bit. Sondra's eyes narrowed again, and she began to release those snarl-like sounds from her mouth. Her face instantly began to turn deep red again, and to Jamie's, Lucky's, and Misty's shocking surprises, Sondra actually flipped herself up from the concrete ground, and she back-flipped over and over again until she was meeting Misty directly face to face, which was when Sondra nailed her straight in the eye with yet another punch.

Sondra had got her fighting feelings back because she knew Johnny was nothing but an innocent, kind, and shy young man, and he didn't deserve to be used by anybody, especially for sexual pleasures, and if he actually _did _get used by Misty, Lucky, and Jamie, he'd feel completely humiliated, violated, and worthless, which would wreck his life completely with such a dark and evil memory like that, and to make it even worse, it could cause him to become suicidal.

Sondra remembered Johnny by heart...his sweet and tendering smile...his heavily greased, handsomely flowing, jet-black hair...and his absoluetly amazing and sparkly black, puppy-dog-like eyes. He was just a sensitive and quiet teenage boy. Just because he was a Greaser didn't change that about him. If it did, that'd be like having tan skin made him different, or having black hair, or just the blackness of his eyes. Sondra Prescott completely adored Johnny Cade. As a good friend, that is. And man...Sondra deeply knew for one heck of a hardcore fact that she'd do _anything _to protect Johnny.

Jamie and Lucky released shocked yelps after they witnessed their leader get punched in the face again by Sondra, while Misty just glared right off at the fourteen-year-old Regular, gently rubbing her eye with one of her clenched fists while she was at it.

"You're makin' a huge mistake-" Misty began warning with a threatening tone, but that didn't effect Sondra one bit. She was now holding out her two tightly clenched fists in front of her once again, meaning that she was ready for another fight.

"NO! I'M NOT THE ONE MAKIN' A HUGE MISTAKE! _YOU'RE _THE ONE MAKIN' A HUGE MISTAKE, CONSIDERING YOU'RE TRYING TO SEXUALLY HARASS MY FRIEND!" Sondra bellowed out, nearly spitting with every word she yelled from her lips on purpose. Misty opened her mouth to sass some words back, but before she could get a single one out, Sondra grabbed a hand full of her short, bouncy, silky, brunette curls, and she yanked them down tightly and hard with the grasp of stone.

"OW! OKAY, THAT'S IT! LUCKY! JAMIE! HELP ME OUT! WE'RE TAKIN' THIS GIRL DOWN!" Misty demanded her two best friends, who were instantly by her side once again right after she ordered out those words, and they both forced Sondra's hand to release Misty's curls from such a hard and painful grip.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! DO YOUR WORST, -! I'M NOT GOING TO ALLOW ANY OF YOU TO LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON JOHNNYCAKE!" Sondra shouted, a whole lot more furious then ever before, and right after she said those words, she was greeted by such a hard punch on the side of her head by Misty. The four girls then broke out into a hardcore and extremely violent fight, which felt like it last for years, but truly only went on for about five painful minutes straight.

"Alright! Alright! You win!" Misty gave in, throwing her arms up to her shoulders as Lucky and Jamie followed her example, while they wiped up some blood drops and tears from their faces, and scratched their arms and necks from where bruises will sooner or later form. There Sondra was, picking herself up from the concrete ground after she had kicked Misty in the head and fell down to the ground from feeling this sharp pain strike and bolt throughout her whole body from fighting for the longest time she's ever went through any physical encounter with anybody, and she had fell back onto her back, straight down onto the concrete ground.

Sondra's face was now stinging deeply, dripping with blood a bit from new, small, and hardly noticeable cuts that she had earned from getting nailed with Lucky's, Jamie's, and a bit of Misty's rings, and she wasn't crying one bit, but she could feel how sore her whole body was now feeling, considering that she had many bruises and scars already underneath her clothes. Sondra crossed her numb arms over her sore chest and cocked an eyebrow at Misty, Lucky, and Jamie.

"You win this ridiculous arguement! We won't ever go by again, nor have our sexual pleasures with thinking about Lonny Bade!" Jamie cried out, her tone pleading, giving out the clear message that she was completely surious.

Sondra annoyingly rolled her eyes. "It's _Johnny Cade_! And you three _better _keep your word, unless yawl want to die! Now scram off!"

Without any hesitation, Misty ordered Lucky and Jamie to follow her, which the two girls waited not a single moment to do, and the three of them ran as fast as they could go when feeling completely injured with tons of new sores and pains. Sondra kept her pale blue eyes on them until they were completely out of sight. After they were, the fourteen-year-old Regular thought to herself that her plan on revenge was a success, and she just saved Johnny from being used for sexual desires.

Sondra, however, sighed, now pouting as she gently and carefully swung her backpack back over her shoulder, thinking to herself about how she was now supposed to head to the tree house to meet up with Johnny for some tutoring. How was he going to take the whole story? Sondra sighed again, thinking that she'd find out soon, and she started limping a bit, her shoulders slumped and eyes looking straight down at her old, worn out tennis shoes as she began walking. Next stop, Sondra thought to herself, the tree house.

Sondra limped and limped, moaning and groaning to herself in pain as she continued on and on for about fifteen minutes straight, now heading down the dirt path in the woods all by herself. The sun was still shining greatly in the clear blue sky with only a couple puffy clouds flowing their way through the air in the cool and gentle fall breeze, and the noises of the forest animals, as well of the crystal flowing river was still remaining beautiful and sweet like it always was. However, Sondra was caught up in thinking so much about Johnny that she didn't know one bit about how he'd take the truth about Misty, Jamie, and Lucky. Not only that, but Sondra deeply understood that she'd have to tell him one way or the other, because she was busy dragging one of her sore legs around and looking completely banged up after that mini rumble between her, Misty, Lucky, and Jamie.

Finally, after an extra two minutes of limping, Sondra had made it to the tree house...but however, she could see Johnny, standing there on the pink porch with his hands jammed in his worn out jeans pockets, and an absolute concerned expression was plastered on his face. Sondra gulped, thinking to herself that he must've been waiting for her, and after she took a couple more painful limps towards the tree house, Johnny gazed down to realize her arrival. God, Johnny thought to himself as his eyes shot huge. He could've sworn he felt his heart take such a leap take it made him feel like he was going to faint, and then it felt like it dropped right in his chest. The color of his skin paled, and his mouth fell right open.

Sondra stared right back up at him, now completely frozen in her steps, and her bottom lip began to quiver as her eyes started to water.

"Oh my god! Baby!" Johnny cried out with absolue fear and worry, his concerned look now completely frightened. Sondra cried and cried as Johnny quickly hopped over the railing like it was no big deal, and he slid down the rope, ignoring the slight burns that he had recieved from it whence his feet finally met the ground. Without any hesitation after hitting the ground, Johnny rushed over to Sondra, right when she fell straight down onto her knees and locked her hands over her face, shedding many tears like there was no tomorrow, sniffling at the same time.

"Baby! Baby!" Johnny exclaimed, feeling like he was about to cry himself from such a terrible scene, and being very careful, not waiting another second, Johnny cuffed his arms around Sondra and lifted her up from the ground, telling her afterwards to tightly hold onto him as he placed her with extra care on his back. Sondra wiped away her tears and nodded her head, wrapping her arms around Johnny's neck and resting her head down on his shoulder, completely enjoying how strong he felt as he carried her, being very careful and cautious as he climbed up the rope with Sondra holding onto him tightly, and Johnny actually loved that feeling. He hasn't ever felt a girl actually hold him like that, and he certainly adored feeling how that felt.

After Johnny made it all the way back up to the pink porch of the tree house, he pulled the rope all the way up like Sondra would usually do, and then he carried Sondra into the tree house through the hollow doorway, carefully setting her down in one of the tea parties tables chairs afterwards. Sondra then allowed him to caringly strip her book-bag off from being worn around her shoulder, and he rested it down on the floor of the tree house.

"Baby, what on earth happened to you?!" Johnny asked as he opened up a first-aid kit that Sondra had pointed out was stored in one of the old and dusty cabinets of the tree house, and he took out some clear, liquid medicine, along with two different small rags.

"...You wouldn't believe me, Johnnycake...you just wouldn't." Sondra sighed, sniffling a bit with her words, feeling the gentle touch of Johnny's fingers tickle up and down one of her arms to only examine if there was any bumps forming. Luckily, there wasn't. There was only some bruises...but Johnny didn't know that those were truly from Sondra's and Iris's father. So, Sondra had to lie about that by telling Johnny that it was from an innocent that she had just recently went through, as known as, her revenge on Misty, Lucky, and Jamie.

"What makes you think I wouldn't believe you, Baby? You're my friend here. Trust me, I went through a lot in my life in the pass, and I go through a lot in my life now, so the only time I don't believe somebody is if they're a Soc who isn't the Greasers friends, Cherry, Randy, and Marcia." Johnny said, wetting one of the rags with the liquid medicine. He sighed. "Tilt your head, please."

"..Like this?" Sondra asked, hoping that would change the topic as she tilted her head over a tiny bit in one direction. However, it didn't work. She could tell it wouldn't, that is. Carefully, Johnny placed his free hand on Sondra's chin, and he gently tilted her head over to the opposite direction a bit.

"There you go. Now keep still. This might sting a bit, but it'll be over before you know it. It's just some medicine that'll be cleaning and healing those hardly noticeable cuts on your face." Johnny instructed as he slowly removed his hand from touching Sondra's chin, and to Sondra's surprise, as she held her head still, she could feel Johnny's hand gently touch hers, and Sondra understood that he was doing that to keep her comforted.

The medicine was cold as the rag gently brushed against Sondra's face by Johnny, and Johnny was right, Sondra thought to herself as she held back some small yelps of pain to herself, considering that the chilly medicine _did _sting her cuts, but feeling Johnny's hand gently touching hers did manage to help Sondra remain calm.

"Now, would you please tell me what happened, Baby? I promise you that I'll believe you." Johnny assured as he sat the medicine drentched rag down on the dusty tea party table, and he snatched up the other rag, which he would have to wet, but considering that there was now running water in the tree house, Johnny wetted the rag with his tongue, which Sondra didn't mind one bit. She was too busy in remembering Misty, Jamie, and Lucky, and their dark plan for what they were planning to do to Johnny, but even though they weren't going to use that plan anymore, Sondra still felt guilty over it.

"Tilt your head this way now." Johnny kindly and softly instructed, and he gently touched Sondra's chin again with his free hand, turning her attention towards him, and she held her head still as Johnny began to clean her cuts with the rag that he had wetted a bit with his tongue.

"...Johnnycake...it's about Misty, Jamie, and Lucky..." Sondra admitted, and Johnny immidately tensed up as his eyes widened a bit, but he continued to clean Sondra's cuts as he gazed into her pale blue eyes, witnessing how much sorrow and plead were now locked up in them.

"...How do you know 'bout them, Baby?" Johnny dared to question. Sondra took down a deep gulp as her face heated up with embarrassment, not wanting to tell Johnny that part on how she witnessed everything that happened in the library earlier that day. So, Sondra then went on explaining everything else in a sighing tone, sharing every single detail that she possibly could, and her throat grew sore with every word that she spoke. The whole story took about five minutes, and right after Sondra wrapped it all up, seeing how hurt Johnny now looked was enough to make the fourteen-year-old Regular to leap up from her seat and whimper out, "Excuse me.", right before she quickly trotted out of the tree house through the hollow doorway and stood there out on the pink porch, rubbing some tears away from her eyes, then gazing up at the clear blue sky.

Sondra felt completely like it was her fault that Johnny now looked so hurt, but to Sondra's surprise, Johnny had walked straight out of the tree house after her, now standing there straight by her side. Sondra gazed at him, realizing with such surprised feelings now hitting her that he was grinning at her.

"It's not your fault, Baby. You shouldn't be seeming down. You're golden here." Johnny complimented "...and now you understand why I hardly trust any girls...but you...I know I can absoluetly trust. Thank you for saving me from getting used like that by those three girls...and you know somethin', Baby? I'm glad you don't have any injuries to your eyes."

Sondra confusedly cocked an eyebrow, trying her best to be polite, but she couldn't help it. "...Why my eyes?"

To her surprise, she actually felt Johnny's hand gently brush against her cheek, right before his fingers danced their way through some of her golden blonde locks, tucking some of them behind her ear when doing so. Sondra's face heated up bright, bright red.

Johnny's smile grew wider and brighter, a whole lot more handsome as he turned bright, bright red himself, and he looked directly into Sondra's pretty pale blue eyes that were shimmering greatly in the sunlight that was peaking through the trees and colorful leaves.

"Baby, don't you remember how I said you had great eyes? Well...your eyes are certainly tuff." Johnny shared his opinion, and right after he said that, Sondra touched his wrist and gently squeezed it, secretly loving how Johnny's hand was touching her cheek so caringly and smoothly like silk.

"Wow, Johnnycake...well...you certainly have tuff eyes yourself." Sondra complimented, her voice sort of cutting off and pausing a bit because she was starting to feel extremely hot and fuzzy all the sudden on the inside, but she didn't know why.

"You really think so?" Johnny shyly asked, using his free hand to brush some parts of his long, heavily greased, jet-black bangs out of his face, while his other hand continued to gently stroke around Sondra's cheek.

For the first time ever that day for real, a sweet and beautiful smile curled up on Sondra's lips, her and Johnny both showing each other their sparkling white teeth as they gazed directly into each others eyes. The breeze gently blew, flowing Johnny's jet-black hair and Sondra's golden blonde hair as it whistled through the trees and leaves, and a deep silence fell over the two teenagers as they continued to stare deeply into each others eyes...and before the two of them knew it, they both relaxed their eyes shut and started to slowly lean into each other, their lips sort of coming close, but before anything could happen, Sondra accidentally squeezed Johnny's wrist a bit too hard, and Johnny reopened his eyes and backed up, taking his hand down from Sondra's cheek as he released a mumbling "Ow!" from his lips.

Sondra quickly opened her eyes and watched as Johnny rolled up his sleeve of his dark blue-jeans jacket to expose his wrist, and to Sondra's surprise, he had one heck of a pretty bad cut on it. Sondra's eyes grew big at the minor, but yet tough looking injury, and she stared right up back into Johnny's eyes as he gazed nervously straight back into hers.

"What happened to your wrist, Johnnycake?!" Sondra questioned with abolute concern now filling her tone.

"...Well...um...er...uh..." Johnny nervously stuttered as he shyly scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, but he knew that, that wouldn't cut it. He understood that Sondra would keep trying to get him to talk one way or the other, so he knew that he'd just have to say it.

Johnny sighed. "You remember how Joey pulled your seat out from under you today in math?"

Sondra crossed her arms over her chest and pouted a little as she nodded her head. "Yeah...why?"

"...Well...after I realized that he did that to you...on my way here to this tree house after school, I caught Joey walking down the street by himself...and I...nailed him hard...but he slit my wrist with his switchblade. Nevertheless, I, um...pounded him like there was no tomorrow." Johnny explained the whole story, and man, Sondra couldn't believe it.

"Johnnycake...you actually..._beat_ somebody up for me? Just like I...did for you?" Sondra asked.

Johnny took a moment to take in what Sondra just pointed out, and then he shrugged his shoulders, rolling down his jean jackets sleeve afterwards. "I guess so. We both protected each other, huh?"

"...Yeah." Sondra nodded her head as she connected her hands over her heart, and she shyly grinned as her face blushed up bright, bright red again. Johnny's ended up doing the same, and some silence fell over the two of them again.

Nevertheless, that ended about ten seconds later when Johnny said, "Baby, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Johnnycake. What is it?" Sondra asked.

"...Well...I was kinda hopin' that...I was very much wanting you to...um...well, I...ugh..." Johnny stuttered, but right after he paused to take down a baseball-sized lump in his throat, he spoke out, "Oh! The heck with it! Baby, I was wondering if you'd want to come to Tim Shepard's party tonight with me and the rest of the gang!"

Sondra's pale blue eyes widened a bit after she took in what Johnny just said, and she stared at him with surprised feelings and thoughts.

"Wow, Johnnycake...well, I'd love to go with you and the rest of the gang to a party, but...after what happened yesterday night, and with Tim's parties being Greasers only parties..I just don't know." Sondra sighed.

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the fourteen-year-old girl with a pleading look.

"Baby, don't mind what happened yesterday night. Dallas didn't mean crap what he said. He's not harsh...he's just Dally, and he takes time getting used to. And besides, I bet the gang and I can help you out with lookin' more like a Greaser so you won't be even noticed as a Regular in a Greasers party." Johnny told the fourteen-year-old Regular.

"...Are you sure, Johnnycake? Are you sure I won't screw anything up?" Sondra asked in a slightly worried tone as she fiddled around with her fingertips.

"Of course not, Baby. You won't screw anything up. Besides, we're Greasers...if anything is going to be screwed up, it's going to be by us." Johnny chuckled at his own joke, and Sondra couldn't help herself to grow a grin at him. He just had that effect on her, and she secretly loved it, but she had no idea on how it actually got to her.

"What time is it? This party, I mean?" Sondra asked.

"The Dingo, and it's tonight around 7:00-9:00." Johnny answered.

Sondra kept her arms crossed over her chest and proudly grinned, approvingly nodding at Johnny while she was at it.

"Well, Rebecca and Charlie are taking Iris to a diner for dinner, and Brian, Peter, and Eric are supposed to 'baby-sit' me tonight while we kick back at Charlie's place...but, uh...I can sneak out and meet you and the rest of the gang over at the Curtis's house 'round 6:50 tonight. Sound good?" Sondra questioned.

A big, bright, handsome smile flashed across Johnny's face as he nodded his head greatly, approving what Sondra just said, right before the two of them focused into each others eyes again, it growing silent between the two of them again, the only sound being heard was the sound of the soft breeze that was whistling its way throughout the air. Then, Johnny and Sondra began leaning in towards each other, their eyes relaxed shut all over again, and before the two of them could see it coming, their arms were wrapped around each other with each others heads resting on the others shoulders in a sweet hug. It wasn't just a hug though...but it was Sondra's and Johnny's first hug.

"...Say, you want to study and tutor now?" Sondra asked about ten or so seconds later with Johnny's and her hug lasting. Johnny's eyes grew big a bit as he quickly released Sondra from his arms, and she did the same.

"Oh, right..sure...let's do that now." Johnny instructed, then the two of them entered through the hollow doorway of the tree house to start tutoring some more.

**A/N: Hm...a Regular...at a GREASERS ONLY party...how will that go? And how will Sondra sneak out with Peter, Brian, and Eric 'baby-sitting' her? What about the rest of the Greasers? How will they react to Sondra coming along with them to Tim's party at the Dingo? Especially Dallas? What'll happen if others realize that Sondra's truly a Regular? Well, if you all want more chapters, _please_, pretty _please _review. I'll read yawl in the next chapter, if I get reviews, that is. Please, and thanks so much, everyone! :D :D :D :D**


	17. Charlie's Rules and A Surprising Visitor

**A/N: Hi, hey, yo, everyone! Still thanks for the favorites and reviews, and another special thank you goes out to my very tuff, golden, awesome friends! Thank you, guys! I adore each and every one of you who take time to read and review my story! Thanks again! Still, _no flames _allowed on _any_ of my stories! All negative comments will be _deleated right away_! Okay, listen here, I'm not trying to be rude, but somebody keeps writing negative comments on "Very Greasy Weddings" and I very much _DON'T_ adore it one bit! _THAT'S_ what's keeping my writing later then usual! That, and school. My writing spirit drops when anybody leaves bad comments, so if you don't like it, don't review on it! Unless you want my writing spirit to decrease! Now,_ please review if yawl want more chapters_, and enjoy chapter 17! :D**

_Chapter 17_

The night arrived faster then anybody's eyes, and before anybody in all of Tulsa knew it, the clock struck 6:50, which was exactly ten minutes away from the Greasers only party at the Dingo, cutrisy of Tim, Curly, and Angela Shepard, but mainly the eldest one, as known as Tim. The sky was dark blue and filled with billions and billions of shimmering and dazzling stars, along with the gorgeous moon. Both the moonlight and starlight danced all throughout Tulsa, bathing everybody and everything that was under it that cool, fall, breezy night.

There Charlie was, slipping on his tan jacket after he just pulled on his matching tan pointed toe boots, and Rebecca was helping Iris slip on her little jacket, because the three of them were heading out to a diner for dinner that night. They asked Sondra if they were sure she didn't want to come, and she hid a grin from forming upon her face as she nodded her head and told them that she'd rather stay there at Charlie's house and rest, right before she simply trotted up the carpeted stairway, not saying any more or any less then the exact words, "I'm positive, Charlie-arlie. But you, Iris, and Becky go on and have a great dinner at whatever diner you go to. I just want to stay here for the night. I'll be here when you guys get back. Later."

Other then Sondra, there in Charlie's house also was Peter, Eric, and another member of Sondra's mini 'gang', Brian. Charlie, considering how much he loved Sondra and Iris both, and since Sondra was going to be in the arms of Eric, Brian, and Peter that evening for them to 'baby-sit' her, Charlie had sunk one of his hands into one of his wool, warm, tan jackets pockets, and then he pulled out a folded up and slightly crumbled up piece of paper. Just as Peter was confusedly about to take it and read it from Charlie's hand after he offered it to them, Brian had snatched it with a simple snip from Charlie's hand, and Eric and Peter read every word of this note from gazing over Brian's shoulders, while he read the thing as well.

_1) No smoking in front of Baby. (It's already bad enough that we're trying to cut her smoking habit a bit.)_

_2) No sugar before dinner/have a GOOD dinner._

_3) No allowing Peter to cook dinner. (We don't want to relive what happened last time.)_

_4) No having your girlfriends over._

_5) No cursing._

_6) Nobody goes in or goes out of the house._

_7) Check in every fifteen or so minutes on Baby._

_8) If something seems out of sorts about Baby, attempt finding out what it is, then console her, and if she doesn't say anything about anything going on, the diner Becky, Iris, and I are going to has its number on the fridge._

_9) If Baby asks you guys to hang out with her, or do anything with her inside the house, you do it. (Unless you want to deal with me!)_

_10) No asking Baby about the Greasers gangs or the Socs packs! _

Brian, Peter, and Eric stared wide-eyed at the note, surprised at what all they just read, but not because of it being rules. It was because that Charlie was the one who wrote down every single word on that piece of paper, considering the fact that Charlie was never the one to get hooked on all of these rules and whatnot. Actually, Charlie was one of the main Regulars who didn't give a crap about rules, just like pretty much every guy in Sondra's mini 'gang', but Charlie loved Sondra and Iris to death, worrying about their injuries and whatever in the world was going on in their lives when they weren't around him, Rebecca, or any of the others in Sondra's mini 'gang'. So, Charlie wanted to write that list of rules in order to protect Sondra, even though he, Becky, and Iris weren't going to be out all night.

As Peter, Eric, and Brian turned their wide-eyed expressions up to Charlie, he only had his hands simply jammed in his tan jackets pockets, and he shrugged his shoulders in a simple manner towards already knowing why he was recieving those looks from three of his best buddies.

"Charlie-arlie! Dude, what_ is_ this?!" Brian demanded, his voice full of shock, still holding the list of ten rules made by Charlie in his hands.

"A list." Charlie simply shrugged his shoulders again, along with his tone being completely smooth and easy, not shocked or anything like that at all. "What's it look like?"

"...A list of ten rules made by our friend Charlie..." Eric replied, only stuttering with some of his speaking just a bit from being so shocked, just like Brian and Peter obviously were, and Charlie, Rebecca, and even Iris could tell that.

Peter pointed one of his pointer fingers at Charlie, who confusedly cocked an eyebrow after he witnessed what Peter was doing. The only thing that was running through Charlie's mind was, "What the heck is he doing?!"

"Who are you, and what have you done with the _real _Charlie?" Peter demanded, but his tone was just filled with nothing but plain concern when he commanded those words from his lips.

Charlie continued to cock an eyebrow at the brunette-haired boy for about another five or so silent seconds after he took in those words. Then, Charlie just simply rolled his eyes.

"I _am _the real Charlie, you dolt!" Charlie exclaimed at Peter, who instantly placed his hand back down at his side after Charlie snapped out those words, as if Peter was saying, "Yep...that's the Charlie we all know and love."

Charlie took in a deep breath to help himself remain calm towards some of his best pals, right before he spoke up with more words. "Look, I just don't want to relive the stuff that all happened the _last _time you three 'baby-sat' Sond-I mean, Baby!"

Brian confusedly cocked an eyebrow as he scratched his chin in a confused manner himself after he took in what Charlie just said. "Um, Charlie-arlie...dude, uh...what exactly happened the last time Eric-O, Peter-pie, and myself 'baby-sat' Baby?"

Charlie then gazed at him, giving him that kind of look that made it look like that he was saying, "You're kidding me, right?", in an annoyed tone.

"Um, for one thing, Bri," Rebecca came into the conversation, holding little Iris's hand so she'd stick close to her side when they walked, and because Charlie and Rebecca both thought that Iris needed a break from her cane. "The last time Charlie-arlie and I came back from the movies together, Peter-pie caught something on fire over the stove, Eric-O had been past out on the couch with a lit cigarette in his hand, and you, Bri, were making out with your girlfriend."

Brian's face heated up with embarrassment, and Eric's eyes widened from Rebecca actually remembering all of that, while lastly, Peter scratched the back of his head as he embarrassedly rolled his eyes down to the lower right, then down to the lower left, and lastly, down the center of the bottom of his shimmering green eyes, before he glanced back up at Charlie, who now had his hands on his hips and that kind of expression on his face that was saying, "You get it now?"

Rebecca and Iris, on the other hand, just continued staying back by the front door, completely ready to go themselves with their jackets and shoes now being worn, but they were waiting for Charlie to wrap it all up with Peter, Brian, and Eric.

"Okay, in my defense," Peter stated all the sudden, no longer waiting through the complete silence for somebody else to say just anything.

"Can a day go by without you sayin' that?" Brian asked, but Peter ignored his comment, acting like he didn't say a single word, and pretending that he wasn't cut off. So, Peter went on, and everybody's full, undivided attention was now on him.

"..How was _I _supposed to know leaving a pot over an open flame on the oven would cause a fire?!" Peter asked, his voice sort of exclaiming to get his 'point' through, but not by much was his voice actually rising.

Right after the four other teenagers heard those words just fly out of Peter's mouth, Charlie rolled his eyes and smacked his hand straight on his face, while Brian and Eric exchanged the same kind of facial expressions that spoke what Charlie was saying without even speaking, and Rebecca just confusedly cocked an eyebrow at Peter, completely having a hard time that he was actually asking _that _question.

"It's called _logic_, Peter!" Charlie blurted out finally after the past ten or so seconds of pure, dead silence. "_That's _why I don't want you to cook anything ever again! Number three on the rules list, 'member?!"

Peter opened his mouth to object and tell Charlie that, that mistake actually _was _an accident, and that he wouldn't ever make that kind of accident ever again, but Eric and Brian both cut him off. Brian had cuffed his hand straight over Peter's mouth, getting him to shut it before even speaking up with another word, and Eric had decided to speak up with another question.

"Okay, we can understand why you don't want Peter-pie to cook ever again," Eric began.

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed, trying his best to object, but Brian kept his hand straight over his mouth, shushing away at him, and Eric went on, pretending not to hear what he just said, while Rebecca, Charlie, and even Iris did the same.

"But _why _can't we leave the house, Charlie?" Eric finished his question, and Charlie crossed his arms over his rock-hard chest, flashing his handsome eyes off at Eric in an annoyed manner, but that's usual coming from Charlie when he actually very much cares for the person or people he's talking to or with.

"Because I don't want to relive what happened the last time you took Baby to the park, Eric-O." Charlie spoke out his response, his voice half simple and half stern, as he gave Eric, Brian, and Peter each a pointed look, giving the message out once more that he meant buisness. Seriously, if there was one guy you'd _never _want to tick off or go against, it'd be Charlie in a simple snap of the fingers, or a single beat of the heart. _That's _how much Charlie truly loved his friends, especially Sondra and Iris.

Eric secretly rolled his eyes at the statement that Charlie just pointed out, placing his right hand on his hip as he annoyingly glanced at Peter and Brian, right before he simply gazed at Rebecca and Iris, and then finally back at Charlie, who still had his arms crossed over his rock-hard chest, and that look upon his face that meant that he was waiting if anybody else was going to respond to what he just said with anymore words at all.

"Oh, come on, Charlie-arlie! Dude, you're still on my case from that?! I'm tellin' ya, it was an honest mistake! Anybody could've made it!" Eric objected finally after the twenty or so straight seconds of nothing but pure silence and exchanging looks, Brian's hand still resting over Peter's mouth to continue with keeping him shut.

"Um, Eric-O, no offense, but that _was _pretty bad what happened between you and Sond-I mean Baby, the last time Peter-pie, you, and myself 'baby-sat' her." Brian lectured with a slightly nervous voice, coming into the conversation between Eric and Charlie finally.

At that moment, Eric glared over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at Brian, but that didn't bother Brian one bit. He didn't care for that. He knew that Eric would string some more words back at him.

"Thanks, buddy!" Eric exclaimed, both sarcastically and a bit loudly, so everyone could hear him, except Sondra, who was upstairs still, getting ready to sneak out to the Curtis's house to meet up with the Greasers for Tim Shepard's party at the Dingo.

"Hey! Don't blame me! I wasn't the one who-" Brian began, but he was cut off when Charlie snapped out the exact words, "Eric, the last time you took Baby out of the house, you took her to the park at night _without _a jacket, and it was freezing to death, _and_ you ended up coming back here an hour or so after the time we wanted you to be back, _AND_ to top it all off and make it completely worse, you came back with the _wrong _teenager!"

Secretly, Eric was humiliated at remembering that memory, knowing that it was the exact truth, and he couldn't object to it with any denying, because he knew himself that leaving a Regular out too late in Greaser territory during the late night when Socs often drive around wasn't such the greatest and brightest plan to come out of anybody's head. Eric took down a small gulp that wasn't noticeable for the others to witness with their eyes or hear with their ears, and his cheeks slightly heated up to a bright, bright red shade from feeling so embarrassed at making such a dumb mistake, but he still believed that anybody could make it.

"I said I didn't mean to! It was an honest mistake! It's not like I actually was aiming to accidentally leave her in the chilly darkness in Greaser territory all by herself! I didn't mean to! And besides, we're actually lucky that I _did _bring some teen back here! At least I wasn't _that _dumb!" Eric bellowed out his lecture all in one go. As he took in a deep breath to help regain his oxygen in his lungs, then released it back out, he, Peter, Brian, and Rebecca all watched as Charlie narrowed his eyes in a sharp and pointed manner, meaning that he was losing his patients, and he placed his hands on his hips.

"That teenager that you brought back here was a _boy!_" Charlie exclaimed "how do you even get dressed by yourself if you can't tell one of our best friends apart from some random teenage boy that doesn't even come close to lookin' like Baby?!"

"Hey, it was late! I was half-asleep!" Eric held his hands up to his shoulders in self-defense, and Charlie just shook his head, rolling his eyes once more at what words just came out of Eric's mouth.

"Well, this time, be fully awake, would ya?!" Charlie demanded, before he gave Eric, Brian, and Peter each one last gaze of his serious facial expression, and the three of them quickly nodded their heads without any hesitation, Brian finally deciding to pull his hand down from Peter's mouth at that time, considering that nobody else except Charlie was speaking then. Charlie's serious facial expression finally faded, and a handsome, proud smirk curled up on his lips as he nodded his head a few times, meaning that he was approving how Peter, Brian, and Eric were responding to him then. Afraid, yes, but at least it was only just a tiny bit, considering that Charlie was a tough fella, but when you get on his good side, he only acts like that to protect you, meaning that he truly did love you. Sondra and Iris were instantly friends with Charlie and Rebecca both whence they first donated their time, deciding to ditch school when they heard that a little blind girl, as known as Iris Prescott, needed help with learning how to read, write, and walk with a cane. But that's a different story...

Meanwhile upstairs, Sondra was busy fixing on a pair of pajamas, because in order to sneak out, she had to convince whoever out of Peter, Brian, and/or Eric was going to come up and check on her anytime soon that she was going to go to bed, so they wouldn't know about her sneaking out to this Greasers only party at the Dingo.

"Remember to-"

Rebecca always wanted to help Charlie out when reviewing the rules after going over them once already, but you couldn't blame her. Peter, Eric, and Brian might've been great friends and tuff people to have around, but they're not the best stars at 'baby-sitting'.

"Yeah, we got it!"

Man, Eric was eager just get the rules to stop being spoken at him like he was some untrained dog or something. Hearing them one time around and having an actual list of them to keep looking over was bad enough.

"And no-"

Charlie's voice was growing stern a bit, but only because he was trying to just set it down finally that he truly loved Sondra more then any other fourteen-year-old girl...not like he really cared for any other fourteen-year-old girls. Sondra and Iris just shared one of those creamy and tender pieces deep within Charlie's heart, whether he admitted it or not. Everybody in Sondra's mini 'gang' was actually within that boys heart as well, but you just had to dig very deep within Charlie to get his actual emotions to show. Charlie showing his real feelings was actually something he only bonded with was with Rebecca, Iris, and Sondra, but mainly Sondra, because Iris was only seven, so she didn't understand much about emotions, and Rebecca...well, Charlie didn't know why, but he kept getting these very warm and fuzzy, strange feelings around her lately. Besides, Sondra was the most trusted out of her mini 'gang'.

"Smoking or anythin' like that. Don't worry. We'll follow the rules...wow, that sounded weird comin' from me."

Dang, Sondra agreed to that completely. Peter saying that he'd follow the rules was something very unexpecting, and 100% of something to call the newspapers on for some shocking topic for other Regulars to hear about.

"We're Regulars! What do you expect?! Rules for us are meant to be broken here!"

Once again, Sondra agreed fully all over again with another statement, but this time with Eric.

"Guys!"

Rebecca again. She was trying to snap them out of their attitudes with just that single word before a fight could break out between Peter and Eric.

"We'll see you guys in a few! Don't worry! We'll take good care of Baby!"

Brian assuring something like that? Well...it's better then Peter promising something like that. Peter's idea of protecting somebody is him keeping a fire-exstinguisher in every room he goes in just in case he accidentally makes a flame spark somehow, and a flame will pop up. Considering that Peter's a curious teenager, he can possibly make five or so fires in one day. But thank God he had the rest of the gang to look out for him there.

"You better, or else I'll break your necks!"

Ah, Charlie...him and his stern protection...it's just so beautiful when you've been one of his best friends for ages.

"...Well, have a great dinner, the three of you!"

Brian had pretended not to hear that, while Eric and Peter just gazed at each other with slightly wide eyes after they heard Charlie threaten him like that, but this threat coming from Charlie wasn't anything to worry about...unless you seriously did tick him off and never listened to him.

Sondra playfully rolled her eyes from overhearing that part of the conversation, and after she heard the door close downstairs, she knew that Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris were now gone. The fourteen-year-old Regular continued to get dressed in a pair of pajamas, slipping on a fuzzy pink robe that used to belong to Rebecca long ago when she was her age, but suddenly...there was this strange knocking sound tapping away at the glass of the closed window.

Sondra's face paled as her pale blue eyes grew huge, and she could've sworn her blood had turned into an icy cold, shivering, flowing river, while her heart felt like it took this one last huge leap in her chest before it dropped. If there was one main thing that Sondra remembered from Rebecca's and Charlie's lessons to her for protection, if there was ever a robber or somebody trying to break in, grab something for a weapon to protect yourself, remain absoluetly calm, but also cautious at the same time, and make your way towards where the sound was coming from so you could fight off whoever was there.

With full caution, Sondra quietly and carefully scurried her way over to the wooden nightstand, which is when she picked up a wooden baseball bat that was resting in the corner of the bedroom, then she swung it over her shoulder, getting ready to beat whoever was there in, as she started her way towards the window, but before she could even get there, the window opened up, and something, or _somebody_, landed and hit the floor with a loud, echoing bang.

The fourteen-year-old Regular dropped the baseball bat from not expecting that to happen, and it banged against the floor as it landed, sending off another loud and echoing bang. Not long after that at all, Sondra released a loud, bloodcurdling scream, as if her life depended on it, and she was getting ready to quickly snatch the bat back up so she could start beating whoever was now there in the guest room of Charlie's house with her by climbing up the tree that was outside the window and actually coming in through the window, but before she could get the chance to do so, whoever it was snatched it away and rolled it far away out of their own and Sondra's reach.

"Relax! Relax! Baby, it's just me!"

Sondra's face paled again, but this time was out of embarrassment, because she realized who she was attempting to beat with the wooden baseball bat. It was Johnny!

"Johnny Cade?! Johnny, what are you doing here?!" Sondra demanded, her voice now in a soft, but yet panicking tone whisper, as she glanced all around the room to make sure that nobody was around or listening or anything like that.

The eldest Cade helped himself up from the floor and dusted himself off, right before he smoothed out his dark brown, slightly stained T-shirt, and his worn out, blue-jeans jacket. Johnny simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned his handsome, small smile whence his eyes met Sondra's, and Sondra couldn't help herself to grow a little, beautiful grin herself, as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

"Heck, I don't know...perhaps I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I'd might as well climb up and escourt a certain Regular to the Curtis's house so we can get her some new Greaser like clothes picked out, and then we can head on down to the Dingo." Johnny explained, his smile growing brighter and even more handsome, as he chuckled a bit at referring to Sondra in different words and terms. Sondra, once again, couldn't help herself to join in with Johnny's chuckling. In Sondra's mind, he certainly had golden chuckles...he was certainly something.

"Say, you're not wearin' _that _to the party, aren't you?" Johnny couldn't help himself to chuckle at Sondra's apperance, looking at her from her bare feet, to the top of her head, completely adoring secretly how her eyes sparkled like two sparking crystals, and how the shy smile tugged on her lips.

Sondra's face burned up a bit with humiliation as she glanced down at her apperance, quickly closing the fuzzy pink robe that she was wearing, considering that she felt extremely uncomfortable when boys her age saw her in her pajamas.

"No, I'm not! Johnnycake, I'm only wearing this so when Peter, Brian, and/or Eric come up here to check up on me, they'll think I'll be going to sleep for the night so they won't check up on me anymore!" Sondra exclaimed, her voice back in that panicking whisper though.

The oldest Cade smiled again after he took another glance from the bottom of her bare feet to the top of her golden blonde hair, and he allowed some more chuckles to escape from his mouth, which earned him a playful smirk from Sondra, and she gently smacked him in the arm.

"Johnnycake, I'm still getting ready in some of my clothes, so we'll head over to Ponyboy's, Soda's, and Darry's house for me to change into some Greaser clothes, and then we'll head on over to the Dingo, understood?" Sondra asked, watching Johnny as he slowly walked around the room, taking admiring glances around at different pictures in frames and some on the wall, while he felt the silky curtains with one of his hands fingertips, his other hand staying jammed in his blue-jeans jacket. All of the colors, especially the pale blue and emerald green made Johnny feel different, as if he was free, and he gazed over his shoulder, smiling once again at Sondra, who was still gazing at him, now grinning again herself as she held the robe that she was wearing closed.

"Ya know, when your a friend to Greasers, you got to get used to people climbing in and out of the windows wherever you're at here." Johnny snickered a bit at that thought, which was actually a hardcore fact, and Sondra grinned a bit more as she playfully rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest while she was at it.

"Yeah, I kind of got that message when you-" Sondra began, but she was cut off when she and Johnny both heard sudden knocks on the opposite side of the guest rooms closed door.

"Baby? Are you alright in there?"

Sondra's eyes grew big as Johnny's did as well, and the two of them gazed right at each others facial expressions, both of them turning bright, bright red on the inside, but paling on the out. That was Peter's voice, and he was now right outside the bedroom door! And to make this all worse, there was no time for Johnny to simply climb back out the window, because he'd still be noticed climbing down the tree by Peter, and considering that Johnny and Peter never met face to face, the two of them didn't know anything about each others personalities or likes/dislikes.

Sondra quickly glanced over her shoulder at the closed door of Charlie's guest room.

"Peter? Is that you?" Sondra asked.

"Yeah, of course it's me! What's going on in there?" Peter asked.

"What are you talking about?"

Sondra was trying her best to sound original and not up to anything, but you could tell that she was worrying, and she looked back over at Johnny, who was frozen like a statue, too afraid to move to even save his life.

"What to you mean, what am I talking about? Bri, Eric-O, and I heard a loud bang, followed by you screaming. What's going on?" Peter asked, still remaining where he was there on the opposite side of the closed door.

Sondra and Johnny both tensed up even more.

"Johnny! Hide!" Sondra exclaimed in a whisper.

"Where?!" Johnny was able to choke that single, panicking-toned word out of himself, and before he knew it, Sondra grabbed a hold of his shoulders, pulling him directly up to her, making their noses touch, and the two of them gazed directly into each others eyes for a moment, right before Sondra pushed him down to the floor, being very careful and gentle with her shove to make sure it wouldn't hurt him, and it luckily didn't. But it was still tough enough to get Johnny to fall down to the ground, where he was now laying on his left side as he watched Sondra hold one of her pointer fingers up and over her lips, quietly shushing him with plead completely flooding her eyes. Johnny nodded his head, staying completely silent as he laid there on his left side, being hidden from being on the other side of the bed, and Sondra took in and let out a deep, but soft breath, both from her mouth, right before she simply walked over to the bedroom door, grabbed a hold of its doorknob, twisted it as far around as it could go, and then she opened it.

"Hey, Peter-pie. What's up?" Sondra asked the brunette-haired teen when their eyes finally met.

"Are you alright, Baby?" Peter questioned with absolute concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can you knock?" Sondra demanded, although the tone of her voice was simple and calm.

Confusedly, Peter cocked an eyebrow at her for a second. "I _did _knock. Now can you _please _answer me why you were screaming? And what was that loud bang before you actually opened the door?"

Johnny's innocent black eyes grew big as he gazed at his body, gently touching his hips with one of his hands, and then touching his stomach and chest, seeing if he was fat at all, but he wasn't. He was very lean, but since Sondra pushed him down without him expecting that to happen, it caused the bang to sound like it came from a very big thing.

"Hm? What screaming, Peter-pie? And what bang? I didn't hear anything." Sondra shook her head. She watched then as Peter opened his mouth to object, but he stopped himself, and Sondra's eyes slimly grew big as she looked over her shoulder, realizing that the window from Johnny entering the guest room of Charlie's house was still open, and the cold and chilly breeze was whistling like there was no tomorrow, filling the whole room with that freezing shock. It was so cold that it made Peter even jump a bit as another small puff of a gus of its breeze whistled its way into the guest room from the open window.

"What are you doin' with the window open, Baby?" Peter walked past Sondra and started his way towards the window, and the fourteen-year-old Regular released a small gasp, considering that if Peter made it to the window, he'd realize that Johnny was laying there beside the bed, and if he got caught, there would be no sneaking out that night or any night for that matter.

"Peter-pie, wait!" Sondra pleaded, starting to scurry her way over to Peter to catch up with him, but when Peter made it to the window, Sondra shot her attention down to the floor, shockingly realizing that Johnny was no longer laying there on his side like before. Sondra's eyes grew big a bit, and she shot her attention back up to Peter, growing a fake grin upon her face that looked very real.

"There's no way in heck I'm waiting to close this window, Baby. Charlie-arlie and Becky will kill me before any illness strikes you first." Peter chuckled a bit at his own words, considering that it was a joke, but it was also a fact. If Sondra got sick with any kind of illness from the window being open, Peter, Eric, and Brian would get it _big time_. Sondra forced herself to release some small phony laughs from her lips, being too lost in concentrating about where Johnny could've went so fast, and after Peter glanced down at her after he finally closed the window again, he cocked an eyebrow in a confused manner when he realized that Sondra was staring at the floor where Johnny was resting before beside the bed, but now he wasn't.

"Uh, Baby, what is it?" Peter asked, and right after he asked that question, one of his big, goofy, handsome grins curled up on his lips. "Say, you want me to check under the bed for monsters?"

Sondra narrowed her eyes for a second, but allowed herself to grow another phony, but realistic looking grin, as she released some fake chuckles. "Um...yeah, that's it."

Sondra needed a cover, so she figured that, that would be the best one, even though it was ridiculous and childish, but just as Peter was about to get down on his hands and knees to glance under the bed, thinking that Sondra was only pulling his leg, Sondra's eyes grew big whence she realized Johnny's hand slightly pop out from underneath the bed, and he was waving at her to tell her to get Peter to back off. Otherwise, their sneaking out plan would be a plain bust.

"On second thought, Peter-pie!" Sondra cried out all the sudden, as she grabbed a hold of Peter's tough arm and gently pulled him away from the bed before he could get a chance to even see a speck from what, or in this case, _who_, was under it. "Everything is fine. There is obviously no such things as monsters." Sondra released some more phony laughs, and Peter placed his hands on his hips in an absoluetly concerned/confused manner, as he continued to gaze at Sondra, who was just grinning back up at him, acting as if nothing was wrong.

"Baby, what's the deal? You're actin' strange tonight." Peter pointed out, but Sondra shook her head.

"No, I'm alright, Peter-pie. I'm just tired. Look, I'm not going to be down for the rest of the night. I'm just going to crash, alright? No dinner or anything like that for me, please, and thank you very much." Sondra listed all that she wanted to say, and it all led up to Peter gazing at her completely surprised.

"You sure you want to go to bed _now_, Baby?" Peter questioned, his voice now filled with his surprised thoughts and feelings.

"Yeah, I'm positive. I've had a _long _day at school with so much homework, and tomorrows just going to be another day. So, can you, Eric-O, and Bri just leave me be for tonight, please? I'm very tired." Sondra lied, adding in a fake yawn or two to make her sound more convincing, and man, Sondra was a very great actress, because before she knew it, she recieved one of Peter's handsome, wide, but yet goofy grins, and he gave her a little friendly kiss on top of her head, right before he tickled her chin a bit with two of his fingers, acting as if Sondra was Iris, and Sondra giggled a bit as she gently and playfully batterered Peter's hand away, making him laugh a bit as well.

"Yeah, alright...but I could've sworn I heard you scream...and the same from that loud bang." Peter pointed out, but all he got in response to that was Sondra shake her head, her fake smile still plastered on her face, and she wrapped her arms around Peter, giving his a big, bright, loving bear hug, which recieved her another friendly kiss on top of her head, and Sondra decided to give Peter a friendly kiss upon his cheek.

"Good-night, Peter-pie." Sondra waved good-bye to Peter for the night, and he smiled greatly, giving her a couple pats on top of her head, as if she was a little puppy-dog.

"Sleep tight, Baby-doll." Peter used Sondra's second nickname that the gang labeled her with when they were all just met for the first time, and after that, Peter fleed the guest room, quietly closing the door all the way behind him until it was fully shut.

Sondra's eyes stayed open, slimly widened from feeling so surprised that she actually pulled that off, and she took in and let out a deep, hearable breath, both from her mouth, and she turned her attention back to the bed, watching as Johnny slid back out from underneath the bed, slightly coughing and dusting himself off from the amount of dust that was underneath that bed.

"Wow! Close call!" Johnny coughed, fanning himself a bit as he managed to grow another one of his handsome, shy smiles. Sondra couldn't help herself to grow her beautiful smile as she placed her hands on her hips and playfully smirk at the eldest Cade.

"Yeah, I know. I can't believe I pulled that off. Johnnycake, look, just wait outside. I'll get some new clothes on, and then I'll climb down the tree to meet up with you out there." Sondra informed "okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Johnny simply shrugged his shoulders and stood up on his feet, but just as he started his way over to the window to reopen it and climb out, Sondra stopped him.

"Hey, Johnny..."

Her voice was sweet and soft, gentle and shy, and Johnny glanced over at her, stopping right when he made it in front of the window.

"Yeah?" Johnny asked.

Sondra took in and let out a deep, but soft breath, right before she trotted up to Johnny and gazed directly into his eyes, as he stared back deeply into hers, and the two of them grinned...but to Johnny's surprise, he felt the softness of Sondra's lips gently touch his cheek for a slim second, right before she backed off, still smiling greatly, and she and Johnny were now bright, bright red, Johnny looking completely surprised for a couple of seconds, until he decided to finally turn back around and open the window, climbing back out and continuin his way down the tree. Nevertheless, Sondra and Johnny didn't believe that they actually had feelings for each other. They were only friends, and Sondra only kissed Johnny's cheek to tell him without words that they were friends, and that he was totally great for doing so much for her in just a few days of them knowing each other.

Meanwhile, after thirty or so minutes past, Peter came trotting into the kitchen, where Brian was cooking up dinner, considering that Eric was sleeping a bit on Charlie's black couch in the living room, and Peter knew for a fact that he wasn't allowed to cook himself.

"Hey, Bri. So what are you making for dinner, considering that Eric's taking a nap in the living room and Charlie stated in his rules that I'm not allowed to cook here ever again." Peter said as he walked over to Brian and gazed over his shoulder to see what he was stirring in the pot. It didn't take long at all until Peter's eyes shot huge at what they were now staring at, and he felt like he was about to throw up from feeling so disgusted.

"What in the world are you making, Bri?!" Peter questioned, slightly gagging with his words.

"Either chilli...or vomit that's mixed with those fancy snails from France, and a persons thumb." Brian responded as he continued to stir what was in the pot on the stove with a wooden spoon.

"Um...ew! I'd rather eat my own cooking, and it's either always burnt, or it's on fire!" Peter gagged, and it didn't take long at all for Brian to roll his eyes at what Peter just said.

"Whatever! Can you just go check on Baby?!" Brian demanded, and when Brian asked a question, it was ironic because it was never a suggestion. It was a plain command.

"She's sleeping, dude." Peter informed as he kicked back in a chair.

"Still. Charlie-arlie's rules stated that we _must _check on her every fifteen minutes."

"So how long has it been?"

"Over half an hour!"

"Oh, crap!"

Peter quickly leaped up from his chair that he was sitting in, and Brian only watched.

"Crap, crap, crap! Charlie's going to murder us!" Peter nervously/fearfully exclaimed.

"No, he's going to murder you." Brian corrected the wisecracker of Sondra's mini 'gang', as he pointed the wooden spoon that he was holding at Peter.

Peter's eyes shot huge. "What?!" he gasped "heck no! You and Eric-O are here in charge of 'baby-sitting' Baby, too! We're all in this together here, Bri!"

Brian rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest, still holding the wooden spoon in his hands. "Stop quoting lines from movies and just go check on Baby, Peter!"

"Not until I settle this, Bri! Look, you and Eric-O are watchin' over Baby with me tonight. You two are here, you two are accessories." Peter pointed out.

Brian's eyes narrowed as he slightly clenched his teeth. He was losing his patients. "And you're an idiot!"

"Then you're an accessory to an idiot!" Peter cried out, and without giving Brian a chance to string any words back at him, Peter trotted out of the kitchen, considering he knew for a fact that Brian wouldn't give in...but when Peter made it upstairs and opened up the door...the room was empty...and the window was wide open all over again...Sondra was gone...

**A/N: So sorry for the late undate, but schools hard at this time! So excuse me for later updates then usual! Anytime any of you have any suggestions, go ahead and message me, or write them in the reviews! I can't promise that they'll end up in the story, but we'll see! NO negative comments, and if you want more chapters, please review! Thanks everybody! I'll read yawl in the next chapter, if I get more reviews, that is! :D :D :D :D**


	18. Party Crashers (Part 1)

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the reviews and favorites, and I hope yawl enjoy chapter 18! Remember though, more reviews, more chapters! *Wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. ;)**

**And listen here, please, people! I understand that S.E. Hinton made "The Outsiders" characters in her own way, but this website provides us to use our own thoughts on them! In other words, we create what we want to create. I understood EVERYTHING from "The Outsiders" book, and I read it enough times to know that Johnny failed a year of high school. Yes, I know, but I made him understand and get straight A's in my story. And the main reason that I keep calling each of the characters handsome and beautiful, it's because I believe that all of the characters ARE handsome and beautiful. Dally, Steve, Ponyboy, Darry, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Soda are all handsome in my own mind! THAT'S why I keep callin' 'em all handsome! Now, if you have anything negative to say in an negative comment, keep it to yourself, because all you're doing is embarassing yourselves by sharing with another person, as known as me, how cruel you don't care 'bout others feelings but your own. I'm not trying to be rude one bit, but if you don't like it, don't review on it. **

**Anyway, now enjoy chapter 18! Time to hit part 1 of a greasers only party!**

_Chapter 18_

Man, who knew how fast Peter could run, because Rebecca and Brian were the fastest runners at track from Sondra's mini 'gang', just like Ponyboy was the best track runner in the Curtis's Greaser gang. But at that moment, it was a whole lot like Peter was just as fast as those three rapidly fast and strong speed runners since here he came bashing down the carpeted staircase, his face beating a bright, bright red, and panicking like there was no tomorrow. Sondra was missing. Those were the only words that kept swarming around, echoing and echoing over and over again in Peter's mind. Sondra's missing. Sondra's missing. Sondra's missing...

"BRI! ERIC-O!" Peter hollered out, his voice exclaiming out the huge amount of worry and fear that he was truly changing. When Peter's starting to freak out with any emotion, then it _must _be serious, considering that he was a plain wisecracker and usually always happy-go-lucky around everyone, minus the Socs, but sometimes to allows the Greasers to pass through without any trouble, and Peter even loved telling jokes and pulling pranks on the teachers because that's just his true personality. However, when he's truly sounding frightened or cautious, like he extremely was right at that moment, then you _must _get the message that something was wrong.

"We're in here, Peter-pie!" Brian's voice echoed out from the kitchen. The tone of his voice didn't sound caring, but yet it did at the same time, but that was just because he and Eric didn't know what the heck was going on with Peter. Pretty much all they were thinking was that Peter was properly creeping one on them, or in other words, pulling a prank over the two of them. However, those thoughts came to an end when Peter ran so fast into the kitchen and accidentally bashed into Eric, causing both of them to let out yelps of shock from unexpecting that to happen. The two of them fell back from losing their balance, but luckily, Brian quickly rushed over to them and caught them both before they could crash down and bang against the hard tile floor.

"Dang, Peter! Where's the fire?!" Eric demanded, him and Peter both getting hauled back up from under their arms and back straight onto their feet by Brian, who released them both after they had regained their balance. Peter's heart was racing like a wild and crazy horse, and his handsome green eyes were huge like two marbles, rolling with so much fear, stress, worry, and sorrow all in one eating him alive. The brunette-haired teen quickly glanced back and forth from Brian to Eric, Eric to Brian, concentrating heavily on Sondra to even speak up and answer Eric's question at first.

Eric cocked an eyebrow as Brian shrugged his shoulders, the two of them gazing at each other when doing that stuff, before they both looked back at Peter together, finally realizing the message that something was actually worrying and stressing Peter out.

"For once, there isn't one!" Peter finally blurted out, and he was referring to what Eric said about fifteen or so seconds ago about where the fire was, considering that Peter was known for breaking things and setting fires. Both accidental, of course. Peter then made a disgusted face when he took in a width of the kitchens scent, and his eyes began to slightly tear up as he started to fan himself, all before he could get another single word out of him.

"What's that horrible smell?!" Peter asked, and Brian's face flushed to a color of a bright, bright red, as his eyes widened with embarrassment, as Eric cocked an eyebrow and glanced at him, placing his hands on his hips while he was at it, considering he already knew exactly what that horrible smell that Peter was questioning about was coming from.

Embarrassedly, Brian scratched the back of his head, then rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the awkward tense now swimming all through the air. "...Don't ask." Brian finally answered Peter's question, his tone full of his nervousness from his huge amount of embarrassment. That terrible smell was obviously coming from his cooking, which had the most terrible scent in the world according to Peter, Eric, and even Brian himself. Why do you think Brian has an D- in cooking class? Peter does too, because he almost literally blew up the whole cooking classroom, but they both were supposed to have F's, until Peter agreed with Brian to allow him to use his switchblade into convincing their cooking teacher to actually at least give them a grade that wasn't another F. The two of them were already flunking gym here, because they didn't ever care to show up.

Peter gazed at him for a second after taking a moment to digest his little response, but then shrugged his shoulders, deciding to let that go for that time. "Look, that doesn't matter right now! But I have some news that actually _does _matter at this time!" Peter exclaimed, and the panicked sound was now completely in his voice once again.

"Which is?" Eric asked with a single roll of his eyes, considering the fact that he didn't actually believe that Peter actually goes serious about anything at all. But that's when Eric and actually the rest of Sondra's mini 'gang' is wrong. Peter truly cares about Sondra, and Iris too, just like the mini 'gang'.

"It's Baby! She's not upstairs! She's missing!" Peter cried out with a fearful voice, and right after he blurted that out, Eric's handsome eyes shot huge as his mouth fell right open, and Brian didn't take any hesitation to quickly slap his tough, bare hands down for them to clap against and meet Peter's tough shoulders.

"Missing?! What do you mean, she's _missing_?!" Eric bellowed at Peter, and his tone was mixed with both fear and anger, along with some new nervousness and worries added in as well. His huge, handsome eyes were shimmering with pure plead now, considering how much everybody in Sondra's mini 'gang' loved her and Iris both to death, and they'd do _anything _to keep them safe, warm, and joyful.

"Yeah! Peter-pie, you told me she was fast asleep!" Brian pointed out. He was now rapidly shaking Peter back and forth, causing his green eyes to widen as his head bobbed all around from side to side, back and forth. Man, Peter was growing extremely dizzy, as if he had turned into a rattle that was getting absoluetly shook around. If there was one heck of a strong guy you needed for back up or anything, next to Charlie, Brian is your guy to call.

"Stop shakin' me, Bri! Stop shakin' me already!" Peter ordered, although his voice wasn't rude or demanding one bit. Peter rarely raised his voice, unless he was encountering a Soc or more then one Soc, or he and his older brother were arguing again. Other then that, if you're one of his best friends, he only raises his voice with pure anger or anything like that when somebody _extremely _ticking him off.

Finally, Brian took his hands away from Peter's shoulders, ending the rapid shaking, but Peter was so dizzy still that he ended up losing his balance and falling backwards, but luckily, Eric caught him, then hauled him straight back up from under his arms. After Peter finally regained his balance about five or so seconds after Eric caught him, Eric relaxed him back straight up on his feet, right before he took his hands away. Peter shook his head back and forth a couple times, then blinked a bit, fixing his cute eyes back on Brian once again.

"I'm sorry." Brian apologized to Peter after he shook him to death.

No, he wasn't. Knowing Brian, and just like Ponyboy figured about Darry months ago, Brian was _never _sorry unless he did something very terrible that could wreck his friendship with anybody from Sondra's mini 'gang', or completely end somebody's life.

"Look, that's not important right now! Baby's missing, and we got to find her before she gets killed, kidnapped, or raped, or something like that! Not only that, but we _must _find her before Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris get back from whatever diner they're at!" Peter instructed, and Eric and Brian both instantly nodded their heads with full agreement. They didn't want anything bad to happen to Sondra, and not to mention the fact that if they didn't get her back before Charlie, Rebecca, and/or Iris found out that she was missing, Charlie and Rebecca would _seriously _beat their heads in.

"But where could she have gone?! We live in Tulsa here! There ain't much to do at night besides getting jumped by some drivin' by Socs!" Eric pointed out, his voice sort of exclaiming to get that message through both Brian's and Peter's heads.

"Well, parties also happen at night here in Tulsa!" Peter then informed, quickly spitting out those words after they clicked together in his head. That's when Brian, who was scratching his chin at that time, allowed his eyes to grow big. He snapped his fingers together, gaining Peter's and Eric's full, undivided attention.

"Wasn't there that party goin' on tonight at the Dingo?" Brian asked, eyeing his two pals confusedly, considering he didn't know if he was asking the question in a correct manner or something like that.

"Oh, yeah!" Peter instantly started nodding his head. "Do you think Baby properly went there?"

"Um, aren't we missin' something here?! That's a _greasers only _party! We'll get our heads literally busted open and our bodies completely slashed with switchblades! Why would Baby go to some terrible place like that?!" Eric demanded, sort of exclaiming with his words when speaking.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Well, she _did _become pals with this greasers gang, especially with this boy named Johnny Cade."

"She what?!" Brian gasped.

"I said that she became-" Peter began repeating himself again, but Eric decided to cut him off.

Eric began waving his arms in front of him to regain Brian's and Peter's attention, which he instantly did when he started doing that. "We heard what you said the first time, Peter! What Bri and I can't believe is the fact that we're Regulars and they're greasers! It's obvious if Baby went to the party, she's going to get it big time by some grease-heads! We got to do somethin' here!"

"No, really, Sherlock?" Peter sarcastically asked with a single roll of his eyes, but when he thought Eric wouldn't hear him, he was proven wrong when Eric had grabbed him by his neck and pinned his head into a headlock, right before Eric started to give him a noogie.

"Ah! Eric-O! Quit it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ow! Ow! Uncle! UNCLE!" Peter hollered, trying his best to squirm free from Eric's hardcore grip on him as he pleaded to be released, but all he got in recieve to that was Eric starting to laugh as he continued to give him one heck of a noogie.

Brian, on the other hand, just looked away, pretending what was happening between Eric and Peter wasn't happening at all, as he scratched his chin and tuned out what all was being heard around him, as known as Eric's mocking laughter and Peter's pleads for him to let him go. Brian was busy in heavy thought about this greasers only party at the Dingo, and knowing Sondra, everyone in her mini 'gang' knew for a fact that even though she was quiet and shy, didn't mean she wasn't the type that went out to hunt for some action.

"Okay, okay! Peter, Eric!" Brian instructed, and the exact second that he said his two friends names, Eric released Peter from the headlock and Peter began to fix his hair to make it look good as new after recieving that noogie. The two teenagers then focused their eyes on Brian, who was looking as serious as ever before.

"I can't believe I'm sayin' this," Brian gulped "but we're going to a greasers party."

Peter's eyes shot huge as Eric's mouth dropped open, and the both of them yelped out at the exact time with absolute shock, "What?!"

Brian stuck his hands into his jeans pockets and sighed, nodding his head at Peter and Eric afterwards. He had that regretful look on his face, meaning he was thinking that going to a greasers party wasn't going to be good one bit, but he knew for a fact that he, Eric, and Peter must find Sondra and keep her safe. A Regular going to a greasers only party was totally _not _a way to keep her safe.

"What's next, Brian?! Does this field-trip come with us going to jail?!" Peter asked.

Brian formed a glare then as he crossed his arms over his chest. "As if you haven't been to jail before, Peter-pie!"

"Hey, that was only one time, and it was because I was framed with stealin' some greasers money! See what I mean though here?! How on earth can we go to a greasers only party?!" Peter objected.

"Look, I don't adore this idea either, but we love Baby, right?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, but-" Eric began replying a cautious response about this greasers only party as Peter nodded his head, but Brian held one of his hands up to his shoulder, meaning he was telling him to keep quiet. So, Eric did just that, and Peter did too.

"But nothin'. We just need to crash that greasers party without 'em even knowin' that we're crashing it, you guys understand?" Brian instructed.

"How in the world can we do that?! Seriously, greasers and Socs have sharp eyes when they notice just one Regular in a crowd of a billion of people!" Peter pointed out, and just as much as Brian hated to admit it, he was right, but that didn't stop Brian from taking a silent moment to think a plan through. Eric and Peter exchanged looks while Brian was in deep thought, and about fifteen or so seconds later, a big smile spread across Brian's face as he snapped his fingers together, and Peter and Eric were now focusing right on him again.

"I got an idea! Peter-pie, Eric-O! Follow me up to Charlie's attic!" Brian cheered.

"Charlie has an attic?!" Peter asked, surprised. "When did this happen?!"

"Since he bought the house, you moron." Eric muttered under his breath, ignoring Peter's small glare towards him after he said that. Hey, no matter what happens in life though, no matter what is said and/or done, Sondra's mini 'gang' would always love each other and have each others backs, whether they admitted it or not.

Brian rolled his eyes at the two of them, right before he quickly took off running up the stairway. "The two of you stop being so immature and come follow me! I got an idea!"

A nervous look formed on Peter's face as he and Eric exchanged their new facial expressions after they took in what Brian just instructed them to do about this idea of his.

"I have a feeling that this won't end well." Peter gulped.

Eric stuck his hands into his leather jackets pockets and shrugged his shoulders, acting like his cool and usual self, but he was truly just as nervous with this plan could be from Brian.

"Me neither," Eric confessed with his calm tone. "But let's just get this plan of Bri's over with so we can get Baby back."

"Agreed." Peter sighed as he nodded his head, and the two of them quickly then trotted up the stairs to catch up with Brian, who was now in Charlie's attic.

Meanwhile with Sondra and Johnny, they had arrived at the Curtis's house not too long after Sondra snuck out of Charlie's house through the guest rooms window and climbed down the tree. Johnny was in the waiting room with all of the guys, while Sondra was in the bathroom with Kitten and Cassidy, who were helping her get dressed in some female greaser clothes. Jocelyn had been taken to Cherry, Randy, and Marcia for babysitting, considering how much the gang trusted the three of them, and Jocelyn really loved them too.

"I seriously can't believe you brought this girl back here to come with us to a greasers only party, Johnnycake. This is a new low for any of us." Dally groaned, taking some drags of his lit cigarette and blowing out different puffs and perfect smoke rings of gray smoke while he was at it.

"Shush, Dallas!" Johnny ordered in a whisper, shushing Dally with one of his pointer fingers resting over his lips. "She could hear you!"

Dally took another drag of his weed, and when he blew out the puff of smoke he inhaled, he smirked. "I SERIOUSLY CAN'T BELIEVE YOU BROUGHT THIS GIRL BACK HERE TO COME WITH US TO A _GREASERS ONLY_ PARTY, JOHNNYCAKE! THIS IS A NEW LOW OF ANY OF US!" Dally hollered out, repeating his words though his rare laughter, but before Dallas could see it coming, Darry thumped him over the back of the head with one heck of a strong slap, causing Dally's laughter to come straight to an end.

Dally's hand flew to where Darry smacked him. "Ow!" he exclaimed "was that even neccessary?!"

"To keep your mouth shut, yes it was." Darry sternly answered, placing his hands on his hips when doing so. Secretly, Johnny chuckled at that, and Ponyboy was the only one who could hear him, considering he was standing right beside the oldest Cade. Man, Pony was shocked to actually hear his best friend snicker at how Dallas, his hero and role model, just got thumped over the head and told by Darry to shut his mouth. But that just proved how much Johnny cared about Sondra, and after Johnny felt the softness of her lips gently hit his cheek for a second, he knew that the two of them would be best friends till the end. Nevertheless, neither Johnny and/or Sondra believed they liked each other more then friends.

"Dally, you best keep your mouth shut with anymore negative words! Otherwise, you'll be dealin' with me!" Kitten warned from the other side of the closed bathroom door.

Dally, who was rubbing the back of his head from where Darry thumped him, rolled his eyes, desperately wishing he could string some words back at Kitten, but he knew that, that wasn't a great idea one bit. If there's one girl you'd better keep your negative comments to yourself and watch the way you treated her friends or she'd beat you down, you'd have Kitten Elizabeth Andrews.

"Whatever," Dally moaned "you girls almost done in there yet? We got to get to the Dingo for the party and it's 6:58!"

"Relax, Dallas. The party might start in two minutes, but that's how long it actually takes us to get to the Dingo." Kitten pointed out.

"Well, we're hittin' the Dingo here! Not the red carpet in Hollywood!" Steve informed.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Stevie." Kitten joked, and the rest of the gang, minus Dallas and Steve, grinned and chuckled at the joke. Next to Two-Bit, Kitten was the second wisecracker in the gang, but she was more serious like Darry as well. Nevertheless, she was also like Ponyboy, enjoying the reading and writing type of stuff and skipping a grade, so she was in high school as well. But Kitten Andrews would never grow up just like Sodapop.

Steve's face turned bright red from embarassment after hearing Kitten use the silly kiddie name that Soda had labeled him with when they first met as little kids, and he rolled his eyes as he rubbed his temples for a couple seconds.

"Just come on already!" Steve ordered.

"And we're done!" Kitten announced, and all of the male greasers turned their full, undivided attention over to the Curtis's downstairs bathrooms closed door, and they watched as it flew open.

Kitten and Cassidy stepped out together with their big, beautiful grins plastered on their faces, and they stepped out of the way, then watched as Sondra shyly stepped out from the bathroom. She was wearing long, dirty, dark blue jeans that were slightly ripped and torn, dark brown pointed toe boots, a hot pink tank-top that was slightly dirty with some stains and it didn't have any sleeves, and her favorite light blue-jeans jacket that she woudn't allow anybody to tell her to take it off.

Johnny's eyes glimmered when they caught the view of the oldest female Prescott, who was busy tugging down on the hot pink tank-top that she was wearing, along with her light blue-jeans jackets sleeves, while she gazed down at the brown pointed toe boots that was now being worn on her feet. Sondra felt strange. She's usually wearing T-shirts and tennis shoes instead of tank-tops and boots, but if this was the way that most female greasers dressed, and she could tell by Cassidy and Kitten that it was, then she had to follow the trend so she wouldn't get noticed as a Regular sneaking into a greasers only party.

"Dang...Baby, you look great." Johnny complimented, starting to feel hot all over inside his body, which he questioned why that was happening, but he just shrugged it off. He truly did think that Sondra looked amazing. For the first time ever then, a shy, pretty, golden grin spread across Sondra's face, and she slowly turned her attention up to notice everybody gazing at her and smiling. However, when her eyes met Dallas, she noticed how angry he looked with his narrowed eyes and beating red face. A cold shock of fear jolted throughout Sondra's body, making her release a quiet yelp, but nobody realized.

"Oh, um...thank you, Johnnycake." Sondra shyly thanked as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

More compliments then flooded the room, making Sondra feel completely warm, in a good way, of course. Sondra hasn't ever thought about ever getting compliments from greasers any day of her whole life, but at that moment, hearing the Curtis's greaser gang call her beautiful, gorgeous, pretty, tuff, and whatnot, except for Dallas, who was keeping his mouth shut, it all made Sondra actually start to love herself. She has always figured that there was something wrong with her to have her parents abuse her and Iris, while Dally hated her, and other Socs and greasers just cursed her out and threw things at her.

However, Sondra's good feelings about herself vanished when she watched Dallas smirk at her after he took yet another drag of his cigarette, and he stood up from where he was sitting on the couch.

"You know, guys..and gals...I hate to admit it, but she _does _look like one of us now...Kit-Cat and Carla even got her hair right." Dally snickered.

Confused expressions then formed on Kitten's and Cassidy's faces as they exchanged the looks they now had upon their faces, right before they both glanced back at Dally, who was still smirking as he smoked.

"..What are you talkin' 'bout, Dally? We didn't put any hair grease in her hair." Kitten informed.

"...I know." Dally simply chuckled, and just as Darry was about to thump him hard again, Dallas dodged his next swing and bashed right out the door, starting his way to the Dingo on his own for the greasers only party.

Embarrassedly, Sondra placed her right hand on her left shoulder and her left hand on her right side, feeling some tears already starting to weld up in her pale blue eyes, then drip down her face. Johnny frowned, pushing himself off from leaning back against the wall, and he walked over to Sondra, throwing one of his arms over her shoulder to console her.

"Don't mind him, Babycakes. He's just bein' himself." Two-Bit told Sondra, and Johnny's face instantly drained to a bright, bright red again from hearing what nickname Two-Bit had labeled Sondra to be called. Merging together their nicknames in Johnny's mind wasn't okay with him one bit, because he knew his gang and their tricks, and it was obvious to him that they were trying to get him and Sondra to go out. However, Johnny told himself in his head that he wasn't ever going to let that happen. Seriously, if he wasn't a Cade, Dally would've already beaten his head in the exact second Sondra entered the Curtis's house with him for the first time ever, which was the night before.

"Yeah, Baby. Two-Bit's right...wow, I never thought I'd say that in my whole life." Steve said in an awkward manner, and he dodged Two-Bit's swing that came at him, right before he grabbed the wisecracker, pinned him into a headlock, and then started to mess up his dark brown, greasy hair.

"Ah! Steve, cut it out! You're messin' up my hair!" Two-Bit complained about ten seconds into what he was recieving from Steve.

Steve smirked and rolled his eyes, releasing some rare chuckles from his lips after he took in what Two-Bit just said. The exact second Steve released him, Two-Bit quickly yanked out his hair greased covered comb from his jeans pocket, and then he started fixing up his hair to make it look good as new.

"You're just like Evie, Matthews! Always carin' 'bout your hair! You're such a girl!" Steve snickered, but all Two-Bit did in response to that was roll his eyes. He figured it'd be best not to say anything smart back at Steve. Otherwise, he could possibly recieve worse then a noogie this time.

"Guys, come on. We can settle this out later. Right now, let's get to the Dingo for the party." Darry instructed, and instantly, everyone in the gang nodded their heads with full agreement.

"Hold up!" Kitten exclaimed as she quickly trotted her way up to the door first, and everyone watched her with their full, undivided attention, not moving a single muscle after hearing her two words. "Me first! I'm goin' to catch up with Dallas and kick his butt!"

Kitten's eyes were now narrowed in a sharp and pointed manner, and her teeth were slightly clenching with her face now beating a bright red. That was her facial expression that formed whenever she meant buisness, or in other words, she's drop-dead serious.

Sondra's eyes grew big a bit, startled to catch what Kitten just said about her actually fighting Dallas. "You mean..._you're_ not afraid of _Dallas Winston_?"

Kitten placed her hands on her hips and shook her head at Sondra's question, rolling her eyes while she was at it when thinking just the plain thought of her actually being afraid or something like that towards Dally.

"Heck no!" Kitten laughed "I'm not afraid of anythin' or anybody! Trust me, I've been through rumbles and rumbles, arguements with my folks to arguements with other Regulars who are _nothin' _like you, which is a great thing. Keeping Dallas Winston 'tamed' is like my second job."

"...What's your first job, Kitten?" Sondra asked, completely forgetting the fact to even care that this girl she was talking to was the girl whom Johnny was describing as beautiful, sweet, and whatnot that somehow got her to feel extremely hot and upset all the sudden. Still, Sondra questioned about that moment to herself, but she never dared to open her mouth about it with anybody. Not even Charlie, Rebecca, or Iris.

The greasers each started their way out of the Curtis's house, obviously leaving the door to slam shut behind all of them.

Steve and Soda both instantly started to do cartwheels while the rest of the gang just simply walked, listening to Kitten answer Sondra's question.

"I work at the DX with Pepsi-Cola and Stevie." Kitten told the second oldest Prescott, who instantly formed that surprised look upon her face after she took in Kitten's answer.

"...Aren't you a little too young to know so much 'bout fixin' up cars to do that job?" Sondra questioned, but Kitten simply stuck her hands in her leather jackets pockets and proudly smiled at the oldest female Prescott.

"Why do you think I'm so proud with the job? I'm different from other teens. That's why. So, do you have a job?" Kitten asked. Man, was that the truth. If there was one main thing Kitten Elizabeth Andrews loved the most, it was being the first ever female greaser in Tulsa and making a difference with actually working with fixing and sometimes even building cars at her young age as a thirteen-almost-fourteen-year-old. The male greasers in the Curtis's gang had their hair to be proud, and Kitten had her job that labeled her rare and different, which she was extremely proud of.

"Nope. Never had one before in my whole life." Sondra shook her head, and she was being completely honest. The only job she technically has is keeping her own 'gang' together, and she needs to technically raise Iris all by herself, along with her 'gangs' help, but Sondra didn't believe that those were actual jobs. She still remembered what her uncle told her long, long ago before he died from a car crash about her getting a job in the future. There's a difference between jobs and hobbies. A hobby is when you work, but then have fun. A job, on the other hand, is when you work and get a paycheck. So, Sondra didn't believe she actually ever had a job before in her whole life.

"You think you should get one at your age here, Baby?" Darry asked with a single shrug of his tough shoulders. He still remembered when he got his first job at Sondra's age, and it was bagging other peoples groceries at the store. It might've been one heck of a boring job, and it didn't pay much, but at least it gave him some change each week, but when he hit sixteen, he finally quit that job and stopped working like that until Mr and Mrs. Curtis died.

For the first time ever, music to the greasers ears struck. Sondra's sweet and beautiful little chuckles of her laughter, and seeing that shy, pretty grin of hers spread across her face was a bonus for them to make them feel even more great.

"What? And ruin my rep? Regulars have reps too, ya dig?" Sondra snickered. That was true actually. It was hard to believe, considering Regulars were just so dang different from the Socs and the Greasers, but yeah. Regulars had certain reps as well, some being more dirty while others being clean, and some being more lazy, and others being more active. Sondra's rep was just being cautious and quit. How could she do that if she had a job? Pretty much every job requires talking at some point each day, and Sondra liked her space.

"Oh, my, my! What do ya know? A Regular who sounds a lot like me with the whole jobless thing! Wahoo!" Two-Bit howled full of cheer into the fall evening, not giving a crap who would see and/or hear him acting the way he was.

"...Since when is that somethin' to be proud of, Matthews?" Steve asked as he did yet another cartwheel, and Soda did as well, the second oldest Curtis cheering out "Wahoo!" when doing his through his handsome, silky, sweet laughter.

"Hey! If I got a job, my Mama would die of shock!" Two-Bit objected, pointing one of his pointer fingers in a sharp manner towards Steve, who only mumbled out "Whatever.", and then went on doing cartwheels with his best buddy.

Ponyboy then rolled his eyes after he took a few moments to think about what Two-Bit just said about his mother dying from shock if he ever got a job.

"Two-Bit," Ponyboy stated "you said the same thing if you spent time cleanin' your own house instead of bummin' 'round mine, Soda's, and Darry's."

"Well, what do you want me to do?! Hang out at Steve's place?!" Two-Bit asked.

"If you come by my place, I'll hurt you." Steve growled in a warning tone, while he continued to do more cartwheels with Sodapop following his examples. "It's already hell enough there with my old man getting drunk all the time and kickin' me out, my mother not even noticing me, and the two of them arguing all the time."

Sondra was surprised to actually be hearing every word correctly that was coming out of the Curtis's greaser gangs mouths. She figured that she was the only one who had it bad with her folks, but it turns out that Steve's parents were arguing all the time, while his father got drunk and kicked him out at least three times each week, and his mother doesn't even realize him. Two-Bit, on the other hand, only has his mother, and his dad was God knows where after he left Two-Bit and his mom in Tulsa. But Sondra was wrong. At least Steve's folks and Two-Bit's mother didn't beat them like they were nothing but crumbled up pieces of trash on the street. However, Sondra didn't think that through.

"Whatever," Two-Bit's voice broke into Sondra's thoughts. "Either way, my Mama wouldn't see it comin' and she'll die of shock."

With a slightly nervous look now on her face, Sondra leaned over to Johnny, who was walking by her right side, while Kitten was trotting on her left.

"...His Mama isn't really gonna die of shock, ain't she?" Sondra quietly asked Johnny in such a silent whisper so only he could hear what she was saying.

A playful smirk flashed across the eldest Cade's face, and his eyes sparkled under the evening light that it made Sondra feel like she was going to fall, but she didn't know why. Johnny then chuckled out the words, "Let's hope not."

Sondra couldn't resist to grin shyly back, and considering she knew that Johnny was kidding, she playfully smacked his arm. The two of them then chuckled quietly together, as they witnessed each others faces stain with the same exact color of a bright, bright red.

**A/N: I know, weird ending, but the next chapter will hold A WHOLE LOT more drama! Trust me! What's Brian's plan? Will Sondra blend in with the other greasers? Well, if yawl write reviews, there will be more chapters! I'll read yawl in the next chapter, if I get reviews, that is! Thanks, everybody! :D :D :D :D**


	19. Party Crashers (Part 2)

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the reviews and favorites! Keep 'em comin', please! :D**

**Also, _please read here_! I just wanted you all to know that I got another negative review, and man, I just want yawl to remember that no matter what is said to me, _NOBODY_ is makin' me quit! This story is something I'm proud of, and if you don't like it, then stop readin' it, and don't dare to review on it, because nobody is gonna read the review besides me, and then I'll delete it, and it'll be gone forever, as if it was never there, so what's the point? I'm not quitin' my stories, so if you don't like it, then I think it's best if you knock it off, because you have your stories, and I have mine. I'm not tryin' to be rude one bit. I'm just stating a fact.**

**Now, enjoy chapter 19! :D**

_Chapter 19_

Brian gazed at his watch as he stood there in Charlie's attic, already dressed up in some greaser-like clothes. He was getting pretty annoyed, because Eric and Peter were both not even done with getting dressed yet, and the three of them had to go out to the Dingo to attempt finding Sondra during that greasers only party, otherwise when Charlie, Rebecca, and/or Iris got back before that, or they caught Sondra out themselves, Rebecca and Charlie would seriously get the three of them back.

Brian scratched the back of his neck, trying his best to ignore the slight itch that kept coming all over his head from the hair grease that he had found and added into his hair for extra greaser effect. He then began to impatiently tap his foot as he rolled his eyes, then let out a groan as he smacked his hand down to his side. Not long after that, Brian yawned, leading up to him rolling his glorious eyes again. He couldn't handle waiting anymore. It had took him only two minutes to get dressed in a plaid, dark green, slightly torn, shirt with long sleeves, old, worn out, tatted-designed jeans, and a pair of ash-black pointed toe boots. Yet, it was taking both Peter and Eric over ten minutes for them to get dressed themselves. Finally, after trying to hold back how annoyed he was, Brian finally allowed himself to give in.

"Good Lord, Peter-pie! Eric-O! We don't got all night!" Brian blurted out, his voice showing clearly how annoyed he was from waiting. If there was one main person in the world who hated to wait, it was Brian, but on the bright side, if you were one of his best pals, like Eric and Peter were, he'd only chat about it. Nobody actually knew what Brian did to people that weren't his friends who made him wait awhile...that would just remain a mystery.

"Oh, keep your greaser jeans on, Bri!" Eric ordered "I'm already finished!"

Brian placed both of his hands on his hips and turned his full, undivided attention over to the old and dusty changing stand, only needing to wait for a couple of seconds this time for Eric to embarrassingly come out from behind it, and he was only embarrassed because he never thought in his whole life that neither he or any of his best friends would have to dress up like greasers, and all to sneak into a greasers only party. But the only thought that was keeping Eric going with this whole plan was completely Sondra, thinking to himself that they'd find her one way or the other.

Brian took a look down from Eric's feet to the top of his head, examining what clothes he was wearing. A plain white T-shirt that was covered with some splashes of red, a black leather jacket that was slightly big on him, a dark red bandana that was tied around his neck, and an old pair of white and black tennis shoes. Eric's hair was drenched in hair grease as well, and just like Brian's hair, it was itching 'em both like crazy, because they weren't used to hair grease, and they knew for a hardcore fact that this would only be the time they'd ever apply it in their hair.

"...I feel like an idiot." Eric growled as he rolled his eyes when he gazed down at the clothes he was wearing again.

"Look, I'm not adorin' the way we're dressin' up either, but whatever it takes to find and get Baby back, we'll do." Brian instructed "right?"

Eric didn't need to hesitate a single second to nod his head to that question that Brian just asked, and after he responded with an absolute yes through nodding, a satisfied, proud smirk curled up on Brian's mouth.

"Okay, great. So, where's Peter?" Brian asked.

Confusedly, Eric cocked an eyebrow at Brian as he jammed his hands into the leather jackets pockets.

"I don't know." Eric shrugged his shoulders. "Why?"

"I thought he was gettin' dressed behind the changin' stand with you!" Brian replied, but he was proven wrong when he watched Eric keep on confusingly gazing at him, as he then started to shake his head back and forth.

"No, he's not behind there. I thought he was out here with you changing." Eric informed. However, it was then time for Brian to shake his head. Man, that's all that it took to cause the two teenagers to quickly gaze back and forth, side to side, left to right, and up and down, searching all over the place for their brunette-haired friend.

"Peter! Peter! Peter!" Brian kept chanting Peter's name in a slimly panicked tone, as he and Eric kept on looking all over the place in Charlie's old and dusty attic, but they couldn't find the brunette-haired boy anywhere.

"Peter-pie! Peter-pie! Where are you?!" Eric asked, his voice exclaiming all around the attic, also in a worried/panicking tone a bit.

"...I'm in here." Peter's voice suddenly came, which was at a normal tone and slightly muffling. Without any hesitation, Brian's and Eric's eyes shot huge, and the two of them shot their full, undivided, and slimly relieved attention towards the direction where they heard Peter's voice, but the slight relief vanished and sank into absolute confusion when Eric and Brian realized that their eyes were now on one of those slightly long trunks. Ya know, the kind people use to store old clothes, books, mirrors, or anything you'd like to pack away in them.

Confusedly, Brian cocked an eyebrow, while Eric's eyes flooded with absolute confusion, and the two of them exchanged silent expressions for about five seconds, until they both shrugged their shoulders, then gazed back at the dark brown, dusty, old trunk.

"Peter-pie?" Brian questioned as he stuffed his hands into his pair of worn out jeans pockets.

"...Yes, in the flesh..." Peter's voice, still muffling a bit, spoke out dryly and slightly embarrassingly from inside the dark brown, old, dusty trunk.

"Why are you in a trunk?" Eric dared to ask that question, and right after he did so, he and Brian both heard Peter take in a deep breath, then release it in an embarrassed manner.

"I don't know..." Peter admitted "...one moment I'm bendin' down to search through the clothes in here...and then the lights went out after I somehow tripped in..."

"...How can somebody-" Brian began asking after hesitating a moment to pause and take a moment with Eric so the two of them could catch and digest what Peter just said, but before he could say another word of his question, Peter interrupted him.

"That doesn't matter! Just let me out of this trunk!" Peter ordered, even though he wasn't sounding rude or demanding, but his voice was slightly rose, but not extremely one bit. Not by a long shot.

Brian stayed back, his hands still jammed in his worn out jeans pockets, while he watched Eric be the one to walk over to the trunk that Peter was locked in, and he bent over a little bit so he could unlock the golden latches that unlocked and locked the trunk. Not long at all after Eric unlocked the two golden latches of the dark brown, old, dusty chest, Peter popped out, now sitting up in the trunk instead of being cramped up in a laying down position.

Peter was dressed in a dark blue muscle shirt, a lighter blue-jeans jacket, a wheat-colored pair of worn out jeans, and a pair of dark brown pointed toe boots. His amazing brunette hair was covered in hair grease, just like Brian's and Eric's were as well.

At first, Peter coughed a bit and fanned himself from the dust that was there upon the trunk, and Eric stuffed his hands into his leather jackets pockets stepping back to give Peter some space, while lastly, Brian just watched the scene.

"Man," Peter coughed one final time, before he stood up and stretched, then stepped out from the trunk, dusting himself off when doing so. "_This_ is totally _not _the way I ever pictured wanting to spend one of my weeknights."

Brian placed his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes, but not in a hurtful or rude manner. "I never imagined one of my weeknights to be like this either, but you guys agreed yourselves that we love Sond-I mean Baby, and we'll do anythin' to keep her safe, 'member?"

"Yeah, yeah. We remember, Bri. Let's just go find Baby before anything bad happens to her, or possibly us with Charlie-arlie and Becky, while little Iris stands back and listens." Eric instructed.

"But...how are we gonna get there? The Dingo is quite a walk away from here, and the three of us walked here to Charlie's place. Plus, Charlie-arlie took his SUV to drive himself, Becky, and Iris to whatever diner they went at." Peter pointed out. "How are we gonna get there?"

"I got that covered. Don't worry." Brian grew his handsome, wide, bright smile that was full of pride when he spoke those words.

"Oh, great! What's next, Bri?! Are we gonna jack a car like some greasers would too?! For Pete's sake, we're already wearin' old greaser-like clothes that used to belong to your father, but he past them down to Charlie for some weird reason, and what the heck is this on my shirt?!" Eric pointed to the red splashes that were stained on the white T-shirt that he was wearing.

Brian's handsome smile instantly vanished off from his face when he digested Eric's question, and his eyes slimly grew big as a worried/slimly scared frown tugged on his lips whence he rested his eyes upon the red splashes that was there on the white fabric of Eric's T-shirt. The red splashes were truly some blood stains after Brian's dad got into a fight with this other guy on the street, but Brian knew for one heck of a hardcore fact that if he told Eric that, he'd flip out, and refuse to dress in that shirt any longer.

"...Um...don't ask..." Brian simply stuttered out to answer Eric's question.

Eric took a confused gaze down at the few red splashes upon the solid white T-shirt that he was wearing, and then confusedly looked back up at Brian.

"What do you mean don't-" Eric began asking another question, but Brian cut him off.

"Peter-pie! Eric-O! We don't have all night, like I stated before! Let's get goin' already!" Brian announced, and he took off out of Charlie's attic, as if the devil was racing behind him.

Confusedly, Eric glanced at Peter, who just stared right back, as he jammed his fists into his worn out jeans pockets, and he shrugged his shoulders, right before he left the attic to catch up with Brian. Not daring to be left behind or anything like that, Eric took off out of the attic, hollering out "Wait for me!" to Brian and Peter, who were both waiting for him at the bottom of the staircase, Brian's hands on his hips and Peter's still inside his jeans pockets, and after Eric finally made it down the stairs, the three of them headed out the front door of Charlie's house, locking the door because when you're a Regular and not a Greaser or a Soc, you have to be cautious of where you live, especially when your house isn't on your part of town.

"So, Bri," Peter said "what's your idea of us to get to the Dingo?"

"Simple." Brian only grinned after he said that single word, and he vanished into the garage of Charlie's house, but returned about ten or so seconds later with this bike that had three seats for one person to control the whole bike in the front seat, while the second seat was in the middle, and the last seat was the end of the dark blue bike.

That was actually the bike that Charlie and Rebecca used to teach Iris how to ride since she was blind, and Rebecca and Charlie would take turns driving the bike in the front, while the other was on the third seat, and Iris always sat in the middle, clenching the handle-bars and laughing, enjoying the sweet feeling of the breeze running through her hair as the sun danced on her face, and her feet on the pedals, going around and around all over again. While all this happened, Iris may have been having a great time feeling like she was now free from any danger from Dominic and Spring, but however, Iris mainly wished that she could see the beautiful views and sights as she rode with Rebecca and Charlie on their bike rides.

Peter's eyes shot huge when he realized that Brian was thinking for the three of them to ride of the Dingo on _that _bike, while Eric's jaw dropped, as if he just witnessed a shooting or something. The two of them were as pale as sheets, like they saw a ghost or a demon or something absoluetly terrifying.

"You're kiddin', right, Bri?!" Peter exclaimed "usually I'm the chilled out one, but right now, not only am I tryin' to keep my cool with wearin' these clothes and this nasty hair grease in my hair, but now Eric-O and myself are tryin' to stay cool with us takin' Charlie's bike?!"

Dang. Believe it or not, that was quite a mouthful for Peter, considering his talks are usually never lectures, and his words were always used for jokes and whatnot, but at that moment, it was as if he was a complete different person.

"Relax, Peter-pie." Brian said flatly, meaning without any cares, and he now had that impatient look on his face, along with his right hand on his right hip, while his left hand held the first seat of the bikes handle-bars. "It's not like we're stealin' the bike here. We're just borrowin' it to go find Baby. And besides, Charlie-arlie's one of our best friends, so I bet he won't mind if we borrow the bike just for a little bit."

"...No, he might not. I'll admit that," Eric spoke up, coming into the conversation about riding the bike that Rebecca and Charlie used to teach Iris to ride all the way to the Dingo and back. "But Charlie most likely _will _mind if he finds out we're takin' it so we can find Baby from God knows where she snuck out to!"

Brian rolled his eyes. "You two worry too much."

"Actually, we worry just the right amount!" Peter objected "if Charlie-arlie and Becky realize that we-"

"They're _not _goin' to know! The faster we get goin', the faster we'll get back with Baby, and then we'll be able to pretend that this night never happened! Good thing, too, because I want to get a shower after applyin' all of this nasty hair grease in my hair! Seriously, how can greasers be used to this?!" Brian commanded, ignoring the tempting senses to itch and scratch away at his hair greased hair.

"Because they're greasers and we're Regulars! We come from different worlds, as do the Socs!" Eric answered, right before he hesitated a moment to take in a deep breath and let it out to remain calm. After that, he said the exact words, "...but, whatever. Let's just get to the Dingo and find Baby before anything happens to her, or possibly us."

Brian nodded his head with full agreement, before the two of them glanced over at Peter, who's arms were crossed over his chest, and he had a worried, but yet serious expression upon his face. But after Peter kept looking back and forth from Eric and Brian, not hearing a single word and only needing to take in their quietness and facial expressions towards him, Peter took in a hearable deep breath and released it as a sigh for Eric and Brian to hear. Then, Peter placed his hands up to his shoulders in a surrendering manner.

"Alright, alright. Fine. Let's just get goin' before we possibly regret it." Peter instructed, and after Eric and Brian proudly smirked at him, nodded their heads, then started climbing onto the bike, Peter murmured to himself, "...which I bet we _will_..."

Brian and Eric actually heard that, considering the fact that Peter wasn't the worlds greatest whisperer, but the two of them just pretended not to hear that, and they waited for Peter to climb onto the final seat on the bike, which was the third one in the back. Eric was sitting in the middle seat, and Brian was the one sitting in the first patted seat, meaning that he was going to be the driver of the whole bike, along with Peter's and Eric's help with just peddling their own pedals.

"And we're off!" Brian announced, and he started to move their feet around over and over again on the pedals, along with Peter and Eric doing their parts, and before they knew it, the three of them were driving away from Charlie's house on the dark blue, three-seated bike that he and Rebecca _needed_ to help Iris learn how to ride a bike.

Meanwhile with the greasers, they were each enjoying the greasers only party at the Dingo, where lots of other greasers were up and dancing wildly to rockin' tunes, especially Elvis, while other greasers smoked different brands of cancer-sticks and blew smoke rings while they were at it, and some drank beer from either glass cups or cans.

Soda had met this extremely hot female greaser named Kristy when he was fetching himself a Coke from the bar, and the two of them had talked for about five minutes, having a great time laughing and whatnot. Now, the two of them were dancing together in the medium-sized crowd of greasers there in the Dingo. Steve was also dancing, surprisingly. He had met up with Evie, and the two of them were either busy dancing for one moment, and then the next moment they're making out, before they go back to dancing, and the cycle goes on for a bit.

While the two male greasers enjoyed the dancing, Two-Bit, Cassidy, and Darry were playing cards, while Two-Bit drank many beers, but Darry could care less. Ponyboy and Kitten, on the other hand, were sitting together, talking and laughing about secrets and school and whatnot, considering the fact that the two of them have been best friends for years now, and they loved each others company.

As for Dallas, however, he was icing his jaw, because right after the gang caught up with him, Kitten had popped him hard with just one single blow of her fist. It hurt like crazy! Kitten might've been thirteen-almost-fourteen, but she was still super strong and tough for her age, and since Dally had mocked Sondra with that joke of his before he took off out the Curtis's front door, Kitten wanted to teach him a lesson to never do that again, unless he wanted even more that would be _extremely worse _then just one punch in the jaw. Everybody was afraid of Kitten, even Dally and Darry, so when she told you to do something, you'd better do it if you knew what was good for you and your health, or better yet, your entire life.

Nevertheless, with all of the greasers enjoying their time there at the greasers only party, there was a certain _Regular_, as known as Sondra, just sitting there with Darry, Dally, and Two-Bit, while Kitten and Ponyboy sat at the table behind them, so they'd still be able to chat and whatnot. Tim Shepard had gotten high _big time _on weed, so he didn't remember Sondra, and he thought that she was just a new greaser in Tulsa. As for Angela and Curly, they had been drinking and drinking since they first arrived at the Dingo, so it was obvious that they wouldn't know who Sondra was at the time either, because the two of them were now rip-roarin' drunk.

Great, Sondra sarcastically thought to herself. The only three greasers that could actually make everything alright for everybody to know that she was a Regular that wasn't anything like the other Regulars so she could be her Regular self, whether she liked the label or not, without any of the greasers there at the greasers only party gangin' up on her, were now drunk and high, as if there was no tomorrow.

Curly and Angela both looked pale and green at the same time, as they sat there at the bar, gently tapping their glasses together one time, before they drank their thirteenth or so glasses or beer. Tim would've been knocking their heads together at that moment so hard that their skulls would crush in just the first bang he caused, but Tim was busy smoking his bad personality away, while he laughed and cheered, considering getting high causes you to do crazy or just plain weird things. Seeing Tim Shepard actually _cheering _and _laughing _was totally something surprising.

But back with Sondra, her right leg was crossed over her left, and her arms were crossed over her chest with this worried, but yet sorrow filled, pout plastered on her face, and her pale blue eyes were flooding with absolute plead, them being big and helpless, like a homeless puppy-dogs eyes would be. She was lost in looking at somebody...who was none other then Johnny Cade. Johnny was kicking back at the bar, leaning back with his free hand jammed in one of his worn out jean jackets pockets, while his other hand held his glass cup of Coke, and he was busy in shaking his head with this apologizing look on his face when this girl was speaking to him.

"Hm..." Dally's mumbling tone came into Sondra's mind, breaking her zoning out thoughts. Ponyboy and Kitten turned around in their seats to gaze at Dallas when he was speaking, while Darry, Cassidy, and Two-Bit gazed up from their cards, and Sondra snapped out of focusing on the scene with Johnny to look at Dally as well, and man, did he look happy 'bout something, crossing his free arm that wasn't holding the ice-pack that was icing his jaw over his stomach, while he chuckled some of his soft laughs. His eyes were stuck on what Johnny was doing with this girl.

"It seems like Johnnycake is turnin' down yet another girl." Dally informed, settling the ice-pack down on the table, before he picked up his bottle of beer, then took down a couple jugs of the clear, brownish liquid that was contained inside of the glass bottle.

Sondra's eyes grew big a little bit more, and she began to feel hot all the sudden. She wanted to take off her light blue-jeans jacket, but if she did, her bruises and other injuries that were upon her arms would be exposed, so she knew she couldn't take off her jacket, even though she desperately wanted to cool off after she got hot a bit out of nowhere for a reason that she didn't even know.

"T-Turnin' down another girl...as in...sayin' no to...dating?" Sondra questioned as she looked back over her shoulder to see Johnny again, realizing now that he was talking to this girl with that same apologizing expression on his face, giving off the clear message that Dally was right, and this girl must've asked Johnny if he wanted to dance or if he wanted to catch a movie or something like that some time soon together, but Johnny was telling her that hewasn't interested.

"Dating, going out to the movies, looking at the stars together, fetching a cheeseburger, who cares?!" Two-Bit laughed, causing Sondra to quickly snap her attention back around. That big, goofy, but yet handsome grin was spread across Two-Bit's face, and his eyes, as well of Kitten's, Ponyboy's, Darry's, Cassidy's, and Dally's, were all on Sondra now, making her feel even more hot, but this time was out of embarrassment, because she knew that they must've caught her glancing back at the eldest Cade again.

"What, Baby? You jealous that my brother won't ask you to date him?" Cassidy snickered as Sondra took a drink from her glass of Pepsi, and right after Sondra took a moment to digest the oldest female Cade's question, she took down what was in her mouth so fast from shock that it caused her to choke on it, and she started coughing a few rapid times. Darry carefully patted Sondra's back, helping her to finally put her coughs to an end after about the seventh or so one.

"W-W-What?! No! No way! I'm sorry, Carla, but I'm not interested in Johnnycake like that. We're just friends." Sondra informed, even though she knew that the gang wouldn't believe her, but she didn't really mind that. Now what she _did _mind was how ticked off Dally was going to get with her if she and Johnny ever went out, but Sondra didn't believe that would happen one bit.

Dally narrowed his eyes and slightly clenched his teeth, making a snarl-like sound towards the female Regular, making her shutter a bit. "You two better_ not_ be more then 'friends'!" Dally warned, pointing one of his pointer fingers at Sondra from across the table, making the poor fourteen-year-old girl flinch a little. "I already had this talk with Johnny, and man, he's been hurt too many times in the past by others to even need a girlfriend in his life! He doesn't need one! And if he actually _does _want to date, I'm going to make sure this girl is alright for him, ya hear?!" Dallas went on lecturing Sondra, making her more and more frightened of him with every word that was spoken from his lips, as if the two of them were the only ones there in the whole Dingo.

"Dallas, shut it before you get a black eye to go with that bruise that'll come sooner or later on your jaw!" Kitten ordered as she showed Dallas one of her fists that was now clenched so tightly that it was slightly trembling, and her knuckles were beginning to turn bright red. "And besides, Johnny's sixteen! He's old 'nough to be able to pick out his own girlfriend!" Kitten then pointed out, and she was correct, but Dally didn't think so.

"Well, he should date a girl that's from our kind then! A Soc or a Regular as a girlfriend just won't slide with me!" Dallas exclaimed, pretending as if he didn't hear Kitten's threat towards him.

Darry rolled his eyes and crossed his tough arms over his rock-hard chest, staring right at Dally after he finished rolling his eyes. "Pretty much every girl that you see with Johnnycake just doesn't seem like a great match with him." the eldest Curtis pointed out.

"Because I don't think he's actually ready to date! 'Member what happened to each of us when we each gave datin' a go?! Darry, your girlfriend cheated on you the night you were going to propose to her, Sandy cheated on Soda and got pregnant with some other guys baby, Syliva and I keep going on and off with our relationship, and here's Two-Bit's girlfriend, Sydney, runnin' around like the little broad she is, stayin' in at least four different boys beds each night!" Dally exclaimed out one heck of a lecture. Two-Bit's eyes slimly grew big as he turned his attention back over to Dallas, who was sitting next to him, after he took more gazes at his cards that he was holding.

"...Sydney's cheatin' on me?!" Two-Bit gasped out, his voice full of shock.

Dally crossed his arms over his chest and laid back, rolling his eyes at Two-Bit while he was at it. "Oh, please," Dally mumbled "she's been cheatin' on you for over a month now, Two-Bit Erwin Matthews...wait, I forgot to tell you this message, didn't I?"

"..Yes!" Two-Bit bellowed, while Darry, Ponyboy, Cassidy, Kitten, and Sondra looked back and forth from the wisecracker of the gang to the second best fighter in the gang, Cassidy, Darry, Kitten, and Ponyboy confusingly watching the conversation between Dally and Two-Bit with slight surprised emotions showing as well. But Sondra was watching with the complete opposite. Nothing but complete shock.

"Oh...well," Dally said flatly and dryly, as he shrugged his shoulders. "Now ya know, Two-Bit. As for the rest of you, now yawl understand why I don't want Johnnycake to date anybody."

"Well, you got to let that go sooner or later, because before you know it, he's going to find a special girl, date her, then fall in love, and before we know it, he'll get married and have mini versions of him and his wife." Kitten lectured, but Dally didn't want to hear it. He didn't like picturing Johnny dating anybody one bit. He hated it, actually.

"..Whatever." Dally mumbled under his breath, right before he started taking down more sips of his beer from his bottle, because he couldn't say another word without getting his head beat in by Kitten.

Sondra, who was still caught up in being too shocked in what Dally said to Two-Bit about his girlfriend, kept her mouth shut as she turned her attention back around at Johnny. He was still where he was, resting there by the bar with his glass filled with Coke, but now, but that girl who was chatting with him not long before was now gone, meaning that Johnny had turned her down with whatever plans she had in mind for the two of them, just like Dally suspected.

Suddenly, this strange warm feeling began swarming around in the pit of Sondra's stomach, and a small grin began tugging at her lips when she got the chance to rest her eyes on the eldest Cade without any interruptions. Sondra then rested her head down on one of his clenched shut fists that were leaning up from her elbow sitting up on table that she was sitting at with Darry, Two-Bit, Dallas, and Cassidy.

Nevertheless, the warm feeling inside Sondra quickly drained away, and it turned into a rapidly hot feeling instead, while her small grin turned into an absoluetly shy pout, because Johnny's eyes had just met hers from where he was leaning back against the bar. His adorable smile instantly formed on his face, and with a couple of gentle jerks to the left with his head, Sondra knew that he was motioning her to come over to him.

Sondra's eyes slimly grew big as her face shaded up to a bright, bright red, and at first, she was shaking her head a bit, but then, she realized that Ponyboy, Kitten, Two-Bit, Dally, Cassidy, and Darry must've noticed her doing so, because Darry gave her a gentle, but yet a good enough, push out of her chair, making Sondra almost fall to the floor, but she luckily regained her balance before she could fall, and Cassidy, Ponyboy, and Kitten were each chuckling. However, Dally was nothing but silent, and Sondra didn't need to take a single little look at him to know the fact that he was staring at her with that death-mock stare on his red face, his eyes narrowed in a sharp manner as they flooded with rage, and his teeth furiously clenched.

"Well, well, well, what are you waitin' for, Juliet? Romeo's wantin' you over there with him!" Two-Bit laughed.

Sondra's face heated up more whence she took in Two-Bit's words, and she wanted to tell him to knock it off, but her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like every rapid pump that it made was inside her throat, causing her to have a rough time speaking. The fourteen-year-old Regular gazed back over her shoulder to see Darry, Ponyboy, Dally, Two-Bit, Kitten, and Cassidy, and all of them, minus Dallas, were smiling greatly at her with big, bright, admiring grins. Dally, on the other hand, was just as Sondra expected. He was giving her that death-mock stare, and he wasn't saying a single word, as if he needed to.

Not saying another word, and growing a bit nervous towards Dally's facial expression, Sondra nodded her head a few times, before she gazed back in front of her to see Johnny remaining where he was, and he was waiting for her with that big, handsome, satisfied smile still plastered on his face. Shyly, Sondra couldn't help herself to slimly grin back, right before she walked away from the table that she was sitting at with the others, and she met up with Johnny.

"Hey, Johnnycake." Sondra greeted, and she added in a wave.

"Hi." Johnny simply replied, chuckling a bit. "So, how are you enjoying your first ever greasers only party?"

Sondra needed a moment to think after taking in Johnny's question, and she took a gaze around the Dingo, seeing the other greasers that she didn't even know still dancing, smoking, drinking, cracking jokes, playfully wrestling with each other, watching TV, etc. Sondra also looked to see Darry, Two-Bit, and Cassidy going back to their card game, while Ponyboy and Kitten started chatting once more. She also realized Soda still dancing with that girl, and not to mention Steve making out with Evie. But, however, Sondra didn't need to gaze at Dallas, because she knew, even though he was pretending to just kick back and drink his beer while he iced his jaw from where Kitten punched him, he was truly seeing what she and Johnny were up to.

"...I don't know. It's okay, I guess." Sondra shrugged his shoulders when finally answeing Johnny's question.

"Okay? Aren't you havin' any fun?" Johnny asked, before he took another sip of his Coke from his glass cup.

"Well...yeah. You and the rest of the gang is great, ya better believe that. But Dallas still hates me, and remember when we first entered the Dingo? Curly asked me if I was your wife!" Sondra pointed out.

Johnny swallowed what was in his mouth, then embarrassingly bit down on his bottom lip for a few seconds from remembering what Sondra just said, hesitating for those couple seconds to remember.

"Okay, first off," Johnny stated "Dally doesn't hate you. He's just hesitant with gettin' used to others. And 'bout Curly, he was hammered! And he still is, just like Angela! There's no way you're my wife because we're not even in love, we're too young, we're not even dating...okay, you get my point on that."

"Then why would Curly say somethin' like that?!" Sondra demanded in a sorrow-like tone as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was beginning to feel absoluetly embarrassed.

"Because he's Curly! And he's drunker then ever before! The last time he was drunk, he came up to me and told me he very much loved my very fantastic dancing skills in 'Dirty Dancing', and only because the main male characters name in that was Johnny!" Johnny informed, turning his head over to Buck, the owner of the Dingo and Dally's rodeo partner, who was behind the bar counter, talking to one of the other greasers that was on about their eighth glass of beer.

"Hey, Buck," Johnny said, and Buck instantly stopped talking to that other greaser, moving his way down the bar counter to the eldest Cade. Buck grinned his cheesy smile at Johnny, who grinned in a friendly manner back.

"Hiya, Johnny. What can I get for ya, kid? 'Nother Coke?" Buck asked.

"Yes, please," Johnny nodded his head with his smile still on his face. "But not for me. For my friend, Baby, here."

Johnny placed his free hand on Sondra's shoulder, making her start to heat up all over again, and she gently touched her own face, feeling how warm she was now feeling all the sudden. Shyly then, the fourteen-year-old girl tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, and she watched as Buck smiled at her, then at Johnny again, before he poured some Coke into a glass cup.

"So, Johnnycake, is Baby your girlfriend?" Buck asked as he slid the glass cup that was now filled with Coke across the smooth surface of the bar counter, and Sondra almost dropped it when she first picked it up after hearing Buck ask that question, but she luckily didn't. That's when Sondra first realized Johnny's face, noticing it was now a shade of a bright, bright red, just like hers, and his eyes were now huge in a shy manner.

"N-No, Buck...man, if I had a single cent for every time somebody asked if Baby and I were goin' out, we had feelings for each other, have we ever kissed, or anythin' like that, I swear...we'd be rich." Johnny said as he stuffed his free hand back into one of his blue-jeans jackets pockets, and he took another drink from his own Coke with his other hand that was holding his glass.

"Well then," Buck snickered "you two look like a couple of love birds."

Sondra took a drink of her Coke and glanced around the Dingo again from where she was standing, trying her best to tune out what Buck was saying.

Johnny rolled his innocent black eyes at what Buck just said, right before he simply kicked back on the bar counter again.

"Very funny, Buck...very funny." Johnny mumbled to himself under his breath, but Buck and Sondra both could still hear his words. Nevertheless, Sondra just pretended that she didn't hear him, while she drank more of her Coke, and Buck grinned and chuckled some more, making Johnny blush from embarrassment a bit.

"Sorry 'bout that, Baby." Johnny apologized after Buck went to serve another drink to a different greaser. But Sondra only shrugged her shoulders as she drank some more of her Coke.

"...It's fine, Johnnycake." Sondra sighed "...everybody thinks we're in love, but it's obvious that we're not. We can't control what they say, do, and/or think though, so what's it matter?"

"..I dig ya." Johnny simply shrugged after he took in what all Sondra just said. "...I guess it's alright that people say this stuff to us, even though it's embarrassing...but you're right...we can't control what they say, do, and/or think...and it's not like we're actually datin' or anythin' like that."

Sondra grew an admiring smile after hearing those words come out of Johnny's mouth. She nodded. "Yeah, you're right. We're just friends...and always will be."

Johnny grinned right back, and the two of them glanced into each others eyes, enjoying each others smiles for a few seconds, until they heard the rocking music stop being so loud...and it turned soft and soothing. Confusedly, Sondra and Johnny glanced around the Dingo to see some couples slow dancing, while others were just friends helping another friend out with getting out there and slow dancing with at least somebody.

Sondra grew upset with sorrow a bit on the inside, because there she was, not slow dancing with a boyfriend because she didn't have one, and she saw Steve now slow dancing with Evie, Soda now slow dancing with Kristy, and even Ponyboy decided to ask Kitten to dance with him, even though the two of them were just friends, and Kitten smiled beautifully as she agreed. Different greasers were each holding the one they loved, or were just friends with, close to them, wrapping their arms around each other and either resting their heads on each others shoulders, or they were gazing into each others eyes.

Sondra pouted, taking another sip of her Coke, but after she swallowed what was in her mouth, to her surprise, Johnny gently took her glass out of her hand, and he sat it down on the bars smooth counter, along with his, right before he glanced directly into Sondra's eyes with that shy look now on his face.

"...Would you, um...uh...like to...dance?" Johnny asked, offering out one of his hands for Sondra to take a hold of for him to guide her to the medium-sized crowd of other greasers that were slow dancing if Sondra actually wanted to dance with him.

Sondra's eyes slimly grew big. She seriously couldn't believe what question Johnny just asked her. In a good way, that is. She actually never believed she'd ever get a boy to ever want to ask her to dance in her whole life. Johnny was the first to ever ask. Actually, Johnny never dated, nor kissed a girl in his whole life either, so Sondra was the first girl he was ever going to dance with, _if _she said yes.

"Oh, wow, Johnny...I...um...uh...well...I..." Sondra shyly and nervously stuttered. She looked at Johnny's face, seeing his puppy-dog pout now back on his face, and his sweet and innocent black eyes were now shining off the fear of being rejected. Being rejected was actually the reason Johnny never wanted to date anybody, because if he wanted to do anything and if he suggested it, he could risk getting rejected.

Johnny was about to just sigh out a, "Nevermind.", before he'd embarrassingly go back to drinking his Coke, but to the eldest Cade's surprise, Sondra gently took a hold of his hand, holding it with such a sweet and feather-like touch, and when Johnny looked at Sondra's face with that surprised expression now plastered on his, he realized that she was smiling that beautiful grin of hers at him.

"Yes, Johnny." Sondra approved in a sweet tone of her voice, nodding her head. "Yes...I will dance with you."

Johnny needed a moment to make sure he caught what exact words Sondra said correctly, but when he finally got a hold of himself there, the eldest Cade smiled right back at the oldest female Prescott, and he guided her over to the medium-sized crowd of the greasers that were slow dancing.

Sondra gently connected her arms around Johnny's neck, while Johnny soothingly wrapped his arms around Sondra's waist, the two teenagers holding each other close and glancing directly into each others shimmering eyes as they slowly twirled and spun, dancing to the soft and lovely slow song.

"Ah, hell no!" Dally exclaimed after witnessing the scene from the table. Darry, Two-Bit, and Cassidy each quickly gazed away from what they were each up to with their card game to notice why Dallas was now sounding so ticked off. Johnny and Sondra were slow dancing together.

"Dallas Cristopher Winston, don't even think 'bout it!" Darry warned, pointing one of his pointer fingers at Dally in a warning manner as well.

"No! No! I won't allow this!" Dally bellowed as he rose from his seat, but Darry forced him to sit back down, muttering at him to do so, while Two-Bit dared to grab Dally's arm and yank him back down in his seat. But Dallas was so caught up in what Sondra and Johnny were doing that he didn't care about what Two-Bit just did to him. Well, at least not at that time.

"Dally, just leave it alone!" Cassidy ordered in a pleading tone.

"Yeah," Two-Bit nodded his head with full agreement. "Just let Johnnycake savior this moment! This is the first time he's ever danced with a girl that's not his sister!"

"Look," Dally demanded sharply. "We've talked 'bout this already! I don't want Johnnycake to be anymore then 'friends' with this Regular!"

"Shush! The last thing we need is everybody gangin' up on Baby because she's truly a Regular in desguise!" Darry reminded in an exclaiming whisper.

"Well, that's the thing, Darry! We're greasers! She's a Regular! We come from different worlds that just don't mix!" Dally lectured.

Cassidy shook her head. "But yet, we're friends with Cherry, Marcia, and Randy?" she questioned.

Dally took down a big gulp of his beer to keep him from yelling at the top of his lungs, before slamming his bottle back down on the table, releasing a sigh while he was at it.

"We're not talkin' 'bout 'em Socs here! We already settled our rival stuff with 'em months ago! Those Regulars, however, can possibly plot a secret rumble anyday now!" Dally pointed out.

"Dallas, don't be ridiculous!" Darry demanded, and since he was the leader of the gang, and not to mention the toughest male greaser, Dallas knew he couldn't lay a single finger on him.

"Baby's different from those other regulars we've seen 'round, Dally." Two-Bit piped up, coming back into the conversation, and Cassidy nodded her head with full agreement, while Darry only crossed his tough arms over his rock-hard chest. Dally narrowed his eyes and gave Darry and Two-Bit each pointed looks, but he didn't dare to say another word. He also couldn't do such a thing at Cassidy. He loved her, whether he admitted it or not. Cassidy was an abused Cade, so there was no way in heck Dally could ever hold something against her.

"...She'd better not hurt him..." Dally snarled under his breath, and Darry, Two-Bit, and Cassidy didn't need to think a single time to know that he was referring to Sondra harming Johnny in any way or form. Nevertheless, secretly, Cassidy felt that way also...

While Dallas laid back and went back to icing his jaw, and Two-Bit, Cassidy, and Darry went back to their card game, Johnny and Sondra were both still caught up in the slow dance that they were both holding each other close and dancing to.

Man, Sondra thought to herself. If anybody from her mini 'gang' witnessed what she was doing, she'd be in _major _trouble, and Johnny was thinking if his folks realized that he was slow dancing with a girl, they'd assume he was sleeping with her, and they'd beat him extra for that night.

"You're a very good dancer, Johnnycake." Sondra shyly complimented after Johnny had twirled her around and caught her in his other arm, like formal slow dances are like in the movies and whatnot.

"R-Really?" Johnny stuttered as he grinned when his and Sondra's eyes met again. "Y-You...think s-so?"

Sondra admiringly smiled as she nodded her head, and before she could tell it was coming, as well as Johnny, the two of them began slowly leaning into each other...but before anything could happen, somebody touched both Sondra's and Johnny's shoulders...and a male voice said, "Excuse me. I have a question I'd like to ask 'bout this girl."

**A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuuuunnnnn! Cliffhanger! Who's talkin' to Johnny and Sondra, and what question do they want to ask about Sondra? Sorry for takin' awhile to update, but schools so crazy this time of year. I'll try to update soon, but we'll see what school has in store. (Uggghhhh! :P)**

**Read yawl in the next chapter, if I get reviews, that is. ;) ;) ;D ;D**

**Please review if yawl want more chapters! :) :D**

**Thanks, everybody! :D :)**


	20. Party Crashers (Part 3)

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the reviews and favorites! Keep 'em comin', please! :D**

**Enjoy chapter 20! Yes! My first chapter that involves the 20's! :D :D**

_Chapter 20_

Sondra and Johnny, who were both still holding each other close for this slow dance, both tensed up a bit after feeling their shoulders getting touched, and their eyes grew big a bit, thinking that somebody must've found out about Sondra being a Regular in disguise somehow. Nevertheless, Johnny and Sondra both couldn't be more relieved and glad to be wrong at that moment, because when they glanced at whoever this male voice was after it asked if he could ask a question to Sondra, the sixteen-year-old greaser and fourteen-year-old Regular noticed this boy, who looked fourteen, smiling greatly at Sondra and Johnny both, his hands still on their shoulders, but when he understood that he now had both Johnny's and Sondra's full, undivided attention by the looks glimmering in their eyes, the fifteen-year-old boy removed his hands from both Sondra's and Johnny's shoulders.

"Excuse me," the fourteen-year-old boy brushed some of his dark red and slimly fairly short out of his face with one of his hands, and he focused his smile and bright green eyes on Johnny. "Are you Johnny Cade?"

Johnny, who still had his arms around Sondra's waist, shrugged his shoulders, which is where Sondra's arms were resting a bit when they remained connected around his neck. The eldest Cade shimmered off a cool look in his adorable black eyes like 'ol Dally would do when somebody asked him if he was who he actually was.

"Who wants to know?" Johnny simply and cooly asked, even though on the inside, he was truly nervous as can be, and he held Sondra close to him, only for protection, considering he still carried his switchblade in his back pocket of his worn out jeans incase of anyday he needed it.

"Oh, pardon me. I forgot to introduce myself." the dark red-haired boy with the bright green eyes chuckled some. "My name is Seth Clovis."

Confusedly, Johnny cocked an eyebrow as he and Sondra exchanged their confused glances for a few seconds, before they both stared back at this Seth Clovis guy, who was still smiling like there was no tomorrow at the two of them. Yeah...that's not creepy at all, Johnny and Sondra both sarcastically thought to themselves in their heads.

"Okay, we got your name. But here's the tough one now. Why are you talkin' to us?" Johnny questioned, trying his best to be polite, but he couldn't help it from his confusion and slight anger towards this redhead boy since he was interrupting his and Sondra's friendly slow dance with each other.

"Oh, right." Seth chuckled a bit, right before Sondra and Johnny both watched him gently place his hand on the fourteen-year-old Regulars shoulder, making Sondra close her eyes, take in a deep breath, and let it out to try to remain calm, considering when she was randomly touched by people she didn't know one bit, or they just met, it made her feel completely uncomfortable. You couldn't blame her for that though. It's pretty obvious that everyone in the whole world would grow extremely tense and uncomfortable if somebody else that they didn't even know just come up to them and touch them. Well, except if you were Dallas Winston or Kitten Andrews. Then you'd get beaten down.

"Well, this girl is mighty beautiful. She your girlfriend?" Seth asked Johnny, who's face instantly turned a bright, bright red, as his black eyes grew big, and Sondra rested her head on his chest from beginning to feel unsure about this redhead Seth.

"No, she's not. We're just friends. Now, what do you want?" Johnny demanded. He was trying his best to not sound stern or rude one bit, considering that those traits just weren't a part of his strong suite, but after he watched Seth stroke his hand a bit down Sondra's arm, he could tell instantly what he wanted, and man, the eldest Cade didn't like it one bit.

"I was wonderin' if this sweetie could slow dance with me. Just this once at this moment, that is...well...unless we hit it off, if ya know what I mean." Seth snickered and winked at Johnny, while he gave him a friendly punch on one of his arms. Johnny wanted to say no, and he was hopin' to death that he wasn't turning red at all from how hot he was now feeling inside of him from surprising anger. He wasn't the one to usually get upset over a girl, so Johnny completely had no idea why he started feeling this hotness of pure rage swimming throughout his body when this Seth redhead asked if he could slow dance with Sondra, who was feeling extremely uncomfortable on the inside, but she didn't want Johnny to know that. So, she kept it hidden the best she could inside of her as she kept herself closer to Johnny, who began stroking her hair a bit with one of his hands fingertips.

However, Johnny wasn't used to telling anybody no, except his kid sisters from time to time, especially Cassidy, since Jocelyn was just a baby. Johnny desperately wanted to, believe it or not, holler and curse at Seth to back off because Sondra was dancing with him, but the eldest Cade couldn't do it. That'd be a first for everybody in the Dingo to witness with Johnny if he actually _did _do it, but he couldn't. Instead, feeling both regret and anger swarming and mixing around in his body, Johnny gave Sondra one final look from his eyes so hers can catch it, and Sondra kept the small frown off from her mouth, even though it was tugging at her lips like there was no tomorrow. She didn't want to stop slow dancing with Johnny just as much as he didn't want to stop slow dancing with her, but they both went their parted ways when Johnny finally guided one of Sondra's hands over for Seth to take. Johnny's touch was gentle and feather-like, loving and caring, while Seth's was too tough and strong for his age, and somehow dark with evil and uncomfortable like, but Sondra didn't want to say anything at all. All she wanted to do was get this dance with Seth over with, so she and Johnny could go back to hanging out.

"Just _one_ dance! Just this _one_ dance!" Johnny instructed the redhead greaser, who only grinned and nodded his head at the eldest Cade after he took in and digested his words.

"Thank you, I understand. Just this dance. No more, no less. Now, if you'll excuse us." this redhead Seth was startin' to sound a little eager with some stern towards Johnny when he said his final five words. That certainly surprised Johnny, and so it did with Sondra too, but neither of them would allow their new feelings to show. Johnny's just simply flushed away and flooded back with his old feelings of this strange, out of nowhere anger, because before he took a single step away, he witnessed Seth lock his arms around Sondra's waist, while she placed one of her arms around his neck, but she used the other one to grab Seth's wrist and gently yank it up to her back. She did the same thing with his other arm after that, before she placed her own other arm around his neck.

Johnny clenched his hands into tight, slightly trembling, and red-turnin' fists, and he glared at the view he got of Seth holding Sondra close to him and dancing to the slow song with her. The oldest Cade then let out a little growl like sound, feeling like he was about to howl from so much sudden anger, which some sorrow was beginning to pour in and mix with. Nevertheless, all Johnny did was stomp away from the meduim-sized crowd of slow dancing greasers, then he took his seat at the table with Darry, Dally, Cassidy, and Two-Bit. Ponyboy, Kitten, Steve, and Soda were still out on the 'dance floor' and slow dancing.

"What's wrong, Johnnycake?" Cassidy asked her brother as she reached across Darry and gave Johnny's shoulder a little squeeze. She could seriously feel how tensed up he was. Tensed up with anger, yes. At Sondra, big time not. Johnny just didn't like how this Seth just came up when he was slow dancing with Sondra himself and asked if he could take Sondra for that dance for himself.

"Isn't it obvious? That Baby Regular ditched him to dance with that redhead." Dally informed as he secretly pointed one of his pointer fingers over to Sondra and Seth for only Johnny, Darry, Cassidy, and Two-Bit to see.

Johnny instantly shook his head after he took a moment to take in and think about what Dallas just said. Two-Bit's, Darry's, Cassidy's, and Dally's full, undivided attention was now on the eldest Cade, who crossed his arms over his chest and felt like he was about to start a fire or something, because he was feeling so upset at that moment from what Seth was doing. Johnny has _never _been _that _angry before in his entire life since Bob and some of his drunk pals attempted drowning Ponyboy in the fountain at the park.

"No, Dallas. She didn't ditch me. We were gleefully and happily enjoying our friendly slow dance with each other until that redhead, who's name is apperently Seth, came up to us, asked me if we were datin', then said that he'd like to dance with Baby himself, because she was just so beautiful and we weren't dating. Well, she _is _pretty, but she and I were dancin' together in the first place!" Johnny complained, right before he did a facepalm. "Oh, _why _did I just let this happen?!"

"Don't blame yourself, Johnny. Kid, you're right. Baby is a cutie, for a Regular, that is." Two-Bit whispered Sondra's actual label just in case anybody was listenin' in on their conversation or anything like that.

"Two-Bit's right, kiddo." Darry grinned one of his rare and handsome smiles as he nodded his head, then gave the eldest Cade, who was keeping his black eyes glued on Sondra and Seth to make sure Seth wouldn't try anything 'funny', a friendly punch on his arm, but in Johnny's mind, he was so caught up in watching Sondra and Seth slow dance that he didn't even feel Darry's playful nudge.

"There's no way that you could've controled this, bro." Cassidy informed her brother. Johnny then finally allowed himself to pout, and his absolute anger finally washed completely away. Sorrow, however, struck more and sunk into the angers old spots. He was upset that Sondra was slow dancin' with another boy, but Johnny had no idea why he'd be angry about something like that. He always figured if a gal pal of his got together with somebody, he'd be overjoyed for them. But however, he wasn't feeling that at all when it was Sondra bein' that gal pal. Not one bit.

"Yeah, I know..." Johnny sighed "...but that Seth better _not _hurt her!"

Dallas, who was kickin' back in his seat next to Two-Bit, crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes in an uncaring way for the first time ever towards the eldest Cade, after he took in what he just said.

"Why do you care 'bout her so much?" Dally flatly asked the oldest Cade.

Johnny narrowed his eyes, but didn't dare to look at Dallas after he took in his question. "Why do _you _care so _little_ 'bout her?" Johnny grumbled back.

Dally simply shrugged his shoulders. "I'm Dallas Winston...you guys are lucky that I care 'bout yawl...even though you sometimes get on my last nerves."

Nevertheless, Johnny wasn't listening. He was too busy watching Seth and Sondra slow dancing with each other, and Johnny could just sense the feeling that Sondra wasn't enjoying it one bit.

"You know, girly," Seth chuckled into Sondra's ear, making the fourteen-year-old girls face heat up to a shade of red from feeling so uncomfortable. She could feel one of Seth's hands beginning to gently trace down her back again, but before he could reach her waist, Sondra gently, but yet roughly at the same time, grasped Seth's wrist and placed his hand back on the upper part of her back with his other hand.

"You're a pretty good dancer." Seth complimented Sondra, acting as if what she just did once again to his hand never happened at all. Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow at him as she continued to slowly dance around, being guided by the redhead boy.

"Um...thanks, I guess?" Sondra shrugged her shoulders. Man, she was desperately wishing that she was still slow dancing with Johnny, because he was her friend and he made her feel comfortable. "But you should know," Sondra then instructed Seth. "That you're the one who's guidin' me through this dance."

Sondra began growing even more uncomfortable when she watched Seth grow this smirk upon his face at her, and he gave her this flirty wink. Sondra's face was now completely red, and she could feel her heart beating so fast and rapidly in her chest. She hasn't ever felt _that _uncomfortable or unsafe since the last time she got a beat down from her father, which wasn't that long ago, obviously.

"How 'bout..." Seth snickered "I lead _you _in somethin' else, precious?"

Sondra's eyes shot huge as her heart dropped, and she completely paled when she felt Seth's hands starting to draw down her back again, but this time was a bit faster. He wanted something, and Sondra knew exactly what it was. It made her sick to her stomach so much. Sondra tried to pull away, but Seth wouldn't allow her to. Every time she attempted to break away, Seth would grab her by her arms and force her to stick close to his body, so his hands could do what they wanted to her.

"Get away from me, sick-o!" Sondra demanded, but Seth wouldn't listen.

"Come on, honey! Don't fight the love!" Seth laughed as he began trying to kiss and touch Sondra, but she kept holding and pushing him back. His lips were sticking pout, meaning they were ready for kissing, and his hands remained squeezing on Sondra's hips so he wouldn't get pushed away, even though the fourteen-year-old Regular was doing a mighty good job with keeping him away by pushing him with all of her strength on his shoulders.

"There is no 'love' between us!" Sondra began crying from getting so scared and becoming so shocked at what was now happening to her. She began feeling very frightening with the thought that Seth might attempt to rape her. "Let me go! Let me go!" Sondra pleaded and begged through her tears as Seth squeezed her hips harder, making her face beat red from feeling so uncomfortable, and tears began comin' out of her faster then a waterfall.

"Aw, don't resist our strong connection, darlin'...man, you smell good..." Seth was bucking and bucking, trying to force himself onto Sondra so he could make out with her and touch her, but she kept pushing him back by his shoulders, resisting him as she cried. She was seriously having a hard time believing that nobody was doing anything. Then again, most of the greasers were drunk and high at the moment, while others just weren't payin' any attention.

"Strong connection my butt! We just met, and I already dislike you greatly! And it's called soap, you freak!" Sondra bellowed through her many tears of strong fear, shooting shock, and painful sorrow.

"Mm...you got a nice lookin' butt!" Seth swooned, as if he only heard Sondra's four words at the beginning of what she just said, and just when Sondra thought things couldn't get any worse, Seth swung one of his arms down from her squeezing waist, to smacking her right on her rear. Sondra seriously had one heck of a shock spring through her entire body then like her life depended on it, and her tearful, red-rimmed eyes shot bigger then ever before, as she breathed in and out rapidly, but this time, her breaths were actually hearable. Sondra could've sworn also she felt her heart beating like a wild racing horse in her mouth, making her teeth chatter to the extreme, and many more tears poured down her red face.

Just as Sondra was about to scream loudly to get everybody's attention, then risk it all and take a fearful swing at Seth to get him to back away and leave her alone, somebody else ended up beatin' Sondra to doin' it first.

"HANDS OFF OF HER, BUCK-O!"

Sondra was shocked. She certainly paled as her mouth dropped open, and she watched as _Johnny _bashed up to Seth after hollerin' at him to keep his hands off from her, and the sixteen-year-old greaser kicked the redhead boy right in the face with one heck of a powerful karate kick. Sondra never knew Johnny was _that _tough. She thought he only fought for self-defense...so...she kept asking herself the same question over and over again. Why would Johnny fight for her?

Everybody in the Dingo split up from whatever they were doing and instantly surrounded Johnny and Seth with the slow song no longer playing since they all witnessed Johnny nail Seth in the face with his foot and send him falling flat to the ground with a now bloody nose.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" the drunk siblings, Angela and Curly, cheered over and over again, as they continued to slurp down their sixteenth or so glasses of beer. But fights weren't Johnny's thing. He only fought when he needed to, like in rumbles and whatnot, so he only shook his head, then quickly rushed up to Sondra to see how terrified, but yet also surprised, she looked.

"Baby! Baby, are you alright? I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have allowed that jerk to dance with you." Johnny sighed and pouted with complete plead for forgiveness shining off in his adorable black eyes, but to the eldest Cade's surprise, Sondra just shook her head at him. The fourteen-year-old Regular then placed her right hand on her left shoulder, and her left hand on her right hip.

"It's not your fault, Johnny. I'm okay." Sondra whispered, keeping her words so soft and gentle so only Johnny could hear what she was saying, considering the fact that the crowd of greasers were still surrounding Johnny and Seth...and Johnny didn't pay any mind to notice Seth starting to drag himself up from the floor with his face now beating red with dead anger, his teeth now tightly clenched, and eyes narrowed with pure rage. The redhead released some soft, but ticked off, snarl like grumbles from his lips as he wiped away the dripping red liquid from his nose with his sleeve.

"Are you sure you're alright, Baby? He didn't do anythin' to-" Johnny began asking more questions, but he shut himself up when he watched Sondra just shake her head at his questions that weren't fully asked yet.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Curly and Angela went on chanting more just as Sondra opened her mouth to say something back to Johnny, but she didn't after hearing Curly and Angela suddenly go back to cheering like that. Confusedly, Johnny cocked an eyebrow and glanced back around to see why Angela and Curly suddenly went back to cheering for a fight after he shook his head, meaning he wasn't agreeing to a fight...but then...Johnny realized even though _he _wasn't up to a fight...Seth actually _was_. Just as Johnny spun himself around, Seth's fist swung and slammed the sixteen-year-old greaser in the jaw, sending him down to the floor in just one go. Everybody, except Ponyboy, Darry, Soda, Steve, Evie, Two-Bit, Cassidy, Kitten, Dally, Sondra, and Buck, started to cheer and clap their hands together, and they all began chanting for a fight.

Sondra's mouth was now hanging wide open with her eyes now huge when she watched Johnny rub his jaw from where he got nailed with one single blow of Seth's fist right there on the Dingo's carpeted floor. Not long after being punched, Cassidy was now holding her brothers hand and squeezing it in a caring way, asking him if he was alright, while Dallas hauled Johnny back up on his feet by grabbing underneath his arms.

"Johnny, you got blood on you!" Cassidy gasped.

"It's Seth's nose blood, Carla." Johnny informed, not even needing to think twice about that being the reason why fresh blood was now covering the part of his jaw from where he was punched. When Seth wiped away some of the blood that was trickling down from his nose, it must've gotten on the fist that he punched the oldest Cade with, causing it to print onto his skin upon his jaw.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, KIDDIE?! NOBODY KICKS ME LIKE THAT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Seth yelled at Johnny, and he began to curse the sixteen-year-old greaser out with so many cuss words strung together to create such foul language.

"HEY!" Sondra hollered, her voice now surprisingly filled with rage, and her hands were now clenched into two tight and hard fists that were beginning to turn bright red and tremble a bit from being squeezed so hard. "YOU DON'T TALK TO MY FRIEND LIKE THAT!" Sondra went on shouting at Seth, and when nobody thought they'd see it comin' with their own eyes, one of Sondra's rock-hard fists came flying foward, and she punched Seth right in the eye, sendin' him straight back down to the carpeted floor. Now everybody, minus Dally, were clapping and cheering for Sondra, while others were just smiling, like Buck, Evie, and Johnny.

Sondra crossed her arms over her chest and watched Seth with this impatient expression now plastered on her face. Seth forced himself to gaze up at the fourteen-year-old girl, one of his hands covering up the eye that was just punched, and his other hand was resting over his nose to stop it from bleeding after Johnny karate kicked him and Sondra nailed him with her fist.

"Sorry," Sondra sarcastically and dryly spoke to Seth, the Dingo now being completely silent so everyone could hear what she was saying.

Seth gulped to help him take down a fearful baseball-sized lump in his throat, but it didn't work. He was now completely terrified of Sondra. "F-For what?" Seth hesitantly and cautiously asked, and Sondra formed a smirk upon her lips.

"I'm sorry that you actually believe a shrimp coctail like you actually believed you'd end up hookin' up with me, then beat my friend up. Sorry, yard-stick, but I'm not interested in guys who need to go fetch ladders to climb up to attempt to even kiss me."

Dang. That was quite a mouthful coming from Sondra Prescott, considering the fact that she's never sassed a greaser like that before in her entire life. She's always been that teenage Regular who's been afraid of her own shadow ever since she was first born. Growin' up in Tulsa where the greasers and Socs battled with each other was certainly not an easy thing, especially when you were labeled as a Regular, or middle-class, in a better known form. Sondra used to be afraid of the greasers, but now, it's like she's discovered and unlocked a hidden part of her that she never knew she had. The fighter and defending side. The only greaser that Sondra never actually got over fear with though is Dallas, so she's still a nervous-wreck 'round him, but as for all of the other greasers in Tulsa, Sondra ain't afraid anymore of any of them. The Socs are a different story though. Same thing with other Regulars.

Laughter struck everybody in the Dingo, except Dally, who looked like he didn't even care about what was going on. Everyone else though was laughing away, some high-fiving each other while others howled like wolves, and some just clapped their hands together like there was no tomorrow, all because of what Sondra just said to Seth, who was now starting to cry a bit to himself from embarrassment as he continued to just sit there on the carpeted floor of the Dingo. Sondra, though, was just keeping her arms crossed over her chest as she proudly smirked in spite of herself, and you could see the proud thoughts and feelings of hers sparkling off her dazzling pale blue eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! Honestly! I-I shouldn't have tried pickin' you up or hurtin' your friend!" Seth begged and pleaded for forgiveness, but he shut himself up when he realized how all Sondra was handling hearing his words with rolling her eyes and shaking her head a bit in uncaring and flat manners.

"Indeed, you are a failure who's lost in this world. Now scram!" Sondra demanded as she gave Seth one final kick in the ribs to wrap up his lesson on him keeping his fighting and sexual flirting to himself. Sondra's kick was so painful and strong that it caused Seth to instantly fall down to his side, right before he quickly fumbled back up on his feet, and he bashed out of the Dingo so fast crying to death, as if the devil was after and chasing him.

Wild cheers and thrilled laughter instantly filled the Dingo from every one of the greasers, except Dally once again, because he wasn't really the one to even crack a chuckle, especially when it came to a Regular disguised as a greaser do that by 'crashing' the greasers only party in the first place.

Sondra had this proud grin now showing on her face, but it quickly vanished, and her skin upon her face began heatin' up to a bright, bright red from embarrassment when she heard Johnny's voice talking to her again. But luckily, he sounded relieved and glad, so Sondra was able to force herself to turn around and gaze at the sixteen-year-old greaser, noticing how his black eyes were now shimmering with joy and the relief from being saved from a beating, and that rare, adorable, wide smile of his was now spread across his face.

"Well, well, well, look who get's bad when she needs to..." Johnny snickered as he pointed his thumb over at Sondra, who, of course, was the one he was talking to, while everyone else in the Dingo went back to their card games, smoking, drinking, fooling around, or dancing. After Sondra heard Johnny say that to her, her face heated up a bit with embarrassment again, but when she was able to find her voice, she smirked at him with that look of revenge, which in this case was playful, glowing off her eyes.

"I was just 'bout to say the same thing 'bout you, Johnnycake..." Sondra giggled, and she could see how Johnny's face was beginning to change to the shade of a bright red after she said that to him, but he continued to grin at her. "I didn't know you could fight like that, Johnny." Sondra then added on to her speaking after a couple seconds of silence.

Johnny jammed his hands into his jean jackets pockets and continued to smile as he shrugged his shoulders at the fourteen-year-old girl.

"I told you a fight for self-defense, just like the rest of the Curtis's greaser gang, 'member? I was protectin' you from gettin' harrassed any longer by that ridiculous Seth." Johnny was going to continue going on, but he stopped talking when he realized Sondra was still sort of smirking at him while she chuckled some of her soft, pretty laughs at him. Confusedly, Johnny cocked an eyebrow, but he continued to grin at least a bit to make him remain polite towards his friend.

"What? What is it?" the eldest Cade then questioned, and he watched as Sondra realized that he had caught her soft laughter. But that only made her giggle more a bit.

"Um..." Sondra snickered as she reached into her worn out, slightly dirty jeans pocket with Johnny still keeping his innocent black eyes on her, and she pulled out a small white hankie. "You got a little bit of that blood from Seth still marked on your jaw there, Johnnycake."

Embarrassedly, Johnny's face heated up to a bright shade of red all over again, and his eyes grew big as he began stuttering out many, "Ohs", "Ums", "Ehs", and whatnot through his phony chuckles in order to try to keep himself on the bright side, but he wasn't foolin' Sondra one bit. She's been through enough pranks, jokes, and acting in her life with her mini 'gang', especially with Peter, to know when somebody is tryin' to pull one over on her, or just change the topic out of nowhere, or something like that.

"Don't worry, Johnny. It's no big deal." Sondra assured as she tried to stop chuckling a bit, but she couldn't help to do so. Luckily, Johnny grinned a little at her, but that small smile of his instantly turned into a slimly surprised one when he watched Sondra wet the hankie a bit with her tongue, right before she gently wiped away the small around of blood from Seth from his jaw. While doing that, Johnny didn't seem to care about the slimly, warm saliva from another human touching his face, and Sondra didn't care about wiping away the blood from his face, because the two ended up getting lost in each others eyes instead. When Sondra glanced at Johnny when she continued to clean his jaw from Seth's blood, the eldest Cade's face blushed up, and Sondra's did too, because their eyes met once again, and the two of them were lost.

"Oh, um..." Johnny took down a shy gulp to help clear his throat, so he could regain his voice. "...Thanks, Baby."

"...No problem." Sondra shyly grinned as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, right before she stuck the white hankie, that was now red a bit from the blood, back into her jeans pocket. But when she glanced back up, once again, hers and Johnny's sparkling eyes met, and the two of them were completely zoning out, as if nobody else was there in the Dingo with them, and the room was dead quiet. But it was the complete opposite. Greasers were all around the Dingo, and the place was rip-roarin' loud! Nevertheless, in Johnny's and Sondra's minds, it was as if they were completely alone, remaining dead silent as they began to slowly lean into each other, their lips slimly pointing out as their eyes rested shut.

"Excuse me!" a male voice suddenly greeted Sondra and Johnny, which instantly snapped the two teenagers out of it, and both of their faces flushed to a shade of red from embarrassment. They then realized there was this new greaser boy standing there beside the two of them with this smooth, cute, cool smirk curled up on his lips. Johnny just laid his eyes on him for a split second and already decided that he didn't like him, but when the eldest Cade looked over at Sondra, he could tell that she was thinking differently. Her mouth was now slimly hanging open, and her beautiful eyes were wide, glowing with this surprised look, as her mouth ended up curling into a small, pretty grin. Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, knowing exactly what was going on.

He knew that Sondra was already forming a crush on him, and all he did was stand there and say two words that weren't even an actual greeting. Just an interruption. Johnny didn't know why, but his embarrassed feelings and thoughts ended up turning into angry and strict ones, and he slimly clenched his teeth, murmuring many unhearable words to himself as he stared at the fifteen-year-old-looking boy. His hair was dark, dark brown and fairly long, but clean instead of greasy. He also had white skin, and wonderful green eyes. Well, wonderful in Sondra's mind. Johnny didn't like this boy one bit.

"I hope I'm not interruptin' you two," the brown-haired boy began stating, and Johnny secretly rolled his eyes as he muttered the words, "Too late...", to himself.

"But I just couldn't resist to come up to you, and tell you that you're even more hot when you're fightin' for self-defense." the brown-haired boy then swooned. Johnny's black eyes grew big as he watched, realizing this brown-haired boy was chatting 'bout Sondra, as he gently took a hold of Sondra's hand, lifted it up to him in such a soft and caring manner, and lastly, he kissed the top, before escorting it back down to her side and releasing it. Sondra's face blushed up to a bright, bright pink as she grinned brightly, and she giggled a bit after the brown-haired boy did that.

"Oh, it was nothin'..." Sondra giggled, and the brown-haired boy winked at her as he grew another handsome and smooth smirk upon his lips. Johnny seriously felt like he was about to gang up on that boy, but he didn't, because he didn't even understand why he was starting to feel so angry out of nowhere like that.

"The name of me is Joshua." the brown-haired boy introduced himself to Sondra, bowing like a prince would do when saying his name. He was actin' as if Johnny wasn't even there. He was too caught up in Sondra's beauty. "What's your name, cutie?" Joshua then asked Sondra, his voice now flirty and even more smooth. Sondra couldn't help herself to release some more pretty and cute giggles after hearing what this Joshua just said to her. She seriously started to feel like jell-o that was 'bout to just fall, but she wouldn't allow herself to do so.

"Nice to meet you, Joshua." Sondra greeted, as if they were starting all over, while she stayed cool and calm like Joshua was doing the best that she could. "My name is somethin' I never bring up. But everybody addresses me as Baby." Sondra explained, and Joshua grinned more with satisfaction. His eyes were sparkling like two perfect gems, because he was certainly admiring Sondra. Johnny, on the other hand, was looking back and forth from Sondra to Joshua, noticin' how they were both smiling at each other and remaining now quiet between each other. Johnny still hated that Joshua with everythin' he had, because he knew that Joshua was tryin' to pick Baby up.

"And my names Johnny." Johnny came into the conversation. He was glad to have Sondra now grinning happily at him after he said that, but he then realized that Joshua was staring at him with this sudden uncaring, flat, and dry expression on his face.

"Oh, right...you're the other one..." Joshua mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders, but before anybody could say another word, the song, 'Put You In A Song' by this amazin' Keith Urban fella, came on, and couples, or close friends, grabbed each other and held the other close, now slow dancing once again to the lovely fast, but yet love song. Another grin spread across Joshua's hand as he held out his hand like a gentleman for Sondra to take, and she stared at him with this surprised look now on her face. Johnny began growing intense, because he had receieved the same look from Sondra when he asked her to dance, and she said yes. That must've been what Joshua was doin', Johnny thought to himself, and man, he didn't like it one bit.

"Would you like to dance?" Joshua asked the fourteen-year-old Regular, who took in a soft, hearable breath as she placed one of her hands over her heart, smiling a little while doing so.

"Dance? Why I'd love to!" Sondra nodded her head. Excitement and joy were both sparkling and glittering off greatly from her eyes, while she didn't even notice the plead and sorrow that was now shining off from Johnny's eyes, and not to mention the strange anger that he was questioning why he had swarming around inside of him.

"But, Baby-" Johnny began, but he was cut off by Joshua, who just took a hold of Sondra's hand, then guided her away from the oldest Cade. Johnny's mouth dropped open as his eyes widened, completely shocked at what he was now seeing with Sondra and Joshua holding each other close as they slow danced in the medium-sized crowd of greasers. Johnny very much wanted to tell Sondra that he wanted to get a chance to slow dance with her since their last dance was ruined by that ridiculous Seth, but Joshua had guided Sondra away when he knew that Johnny was speaking to her. Not only that, but to top it all off, Johnny witnessed Joshua glare at him when Sondra was resting her head on his shoulder, so she wouldn't see him do so.

Angrily, Johnny kicked something that wasn't even there, while he released a single "Ugh!" to himself, and he stomped off with his hands now clenched into fists, headin' his way back over to the bar so he could continue to drink his Coke. He didn't need to look at Joshua to know that his eyes were still on him, and he was now proudly smirking, as he continued to slow dance with Sondra. Also, it turns out that the rest of the Curtis's greaser gang caught the scene from the table, where they were taking care of the crazily high Tim, while Angela and Curly were now God knows where, most likely throwin' up from bein' so rip-roarin' drunk.

"Dang," Dally mumbled, then went on with a few more curse words when he noticed that Sondra was slow dancing with yet another boy. "How many boys is that broad goin' to hook up with tonight?"

Kitten crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes after she took in what Dally just said. "Dally, would you like that black eye to go with that bruise that'll form on your jaw sooner or later now?"

"No, thanks, Ma'am." Dally responded without any hesitation, as he began drinking down his refill of beer.

"Then you'd best stop that talk 'bout Baby! She's not a broad! She's just a fourteen-year-old with a low self-eestem!" Kitten pointed out with a stern tone, in order to get that through Dally's head, even though he wouldn't listen to reason.

"Kitty-Cat's right, Dallas. Baby's not a bad person like 'em other Regulars." Two-Bit whispered, so others wouldn't hear anything about Baby truly being a Regular.

"I see pretty rainbows! Oh, look! A unicorn! Can I have a ride?" the high Tim chuckled and snickered like a giggling little girl as he reached up all around and waved his arms, as if he was swinging through the sky. Yep, he was totally high. Higher then ever before. Too much weed, that was certainly a fact.

"Be quiet, Tim! Now just ride your unicorn!" Darry ordered, while Cassidy gently dabbed some cool water on Tim's face with a rag to help him calm down, because he'd sooner or later be dealin' with one heck of a sweatin' after he gets over being high.

"You actually met Mr. Unicorn, Darrel?!" Tim asked the oldest Curtis with a surprised tone, and the look on his face made it seem like he just discovered the cure to cancer. Darry rolled his eyes, but allowed his anger to not get to him, because Tim was one of his best pals, and you really couldn't blame him. He was extremely high.

"Yeah, Soda, Ponyboy, and I had lunch with him last week." Darry said sarcastically, but by the way Tim started cheering and clapping like a little school girl, it was obvious that he didn't take it as sarcasm. But once again, he is high.

Meanwhile, back with Joshua and Sondra, Joshua was busy flirtin' away, makin' Sondra blush and giggle as she smiled greatly and glady, while she was twirled around and held by the fifteen-year-old boy.

"Hey, um, Baby?" Joshua asked "I know we just met, and this might be a crazy question to ask...but...would you..."

"Would I what?" Sondra questioned, and she watched as Joshua grinned at her, showing her all of his sparkling white teeth...however, what Sondra didn't know was that Joshua was a _Soc _in disguise, and not only that, but he was drunk, so he didn't know what he was saying and doing...

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Joshua then finally 'popped the teenage question', and Sondra's heart took one heck of a giant leap in her chest as her eyes grew big, and her smile dropped open...she was extremely surprised...

But what Sondra also didn't realize was that a couple of people just arrived at the Dingo...and if these people caught her, it wouldn't be good one bit...but who could they be? Whoever they were, they were searchin' for her...and they would do _anything _to find and get her...but who?

**A/N: Sooooo soorrryyyy it took so long to update, but schools goin' insane right now, and my homework and studying is gatherin' up on me all around. I'll be out on May 29th though, so only a few more weeks. I can't wait! Bring it on summer! Can't wait for May 25th also! Anybody guess what day that is? ;) Yes! My b-day! Can't wait! :D**

**Anyway, please REVIEW! If yawl want more chapters, please review! Pretty please! Only kind reviews though! No flames or negative comments, which will be deleted and gone forever ASAP. I'll update when I can, if I get reviews, that is. Please review! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit on here. Please review! Pretty please! Read yawl in the next chapter, if I get reviews. Thanks, everybody! Thanks so much! I adore each and every one of you! :D :D :D :D**


	21. Party Crashers (Part 4)

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the reviews and favorites! Keep 'em comin', please! :D**

**Enjoy chapter 21, the final 'Party Crashers' part! :)**

_Chapter 21_

Sondra and Joshua gazed into each other eyes with big smiles upon their faces that were starting to draw closer and closer as they continued to slow dance, holding each other close in the others arms. Sondra had agreed to be Joshua's girlfriend, and man, it was a really great thing that Johnny didn't hear Joshua 'pop the teenage question' or Sondra actually saying yes to it, because he was already upset enough over some reason he didn't quite understand, but if there was one major thing Johnny knew for sure, it was that he absoluetly disliked Joshua, and any other boy who would fall head over heels for Sondra, whether they were a greaser, Soc, or a different Regular.

Sondra yawned little, growing that adorable, small, precious grin of hers upon her lips as she gently rested her head down on Joshua's shoulder. Joshua smiled greatly, showing all of his sparkling white teeth as his eyes shimmered and glew with that handsome glow. However, it was too bad that nobody realized how Joshua was truly that Soc in disguise, and not to mention the fact that he was drunk, so he truly had no idea what he was doing, and when he'd get over his hangover, he wouldn't remember a single word that he spoke, nor a single action that he did during that greasers only party. Joshua didn't mean to get drunk, but his best friend, Paul, offered him to take a single glass of beer just to try it. So, Joshua did just that. He instantly hated the taste, it being so bitter and making him gag as he swallowed it, as his face flushed into a mixture of a sick green and sheet white. However, after Joshua took just one single glass of beer, he couldn't help himself to drink down even more. He ended up getting drunk on his tenth or so glass.

"Aw, come on, Baby. You can't be tired already. We've only just begun." Joshua chuckled a bit in his cool and smooth tone into Sondra's ear, her head still resting peacefully on his shoulder as they continued to slow dance. Joshua began tracing his hands in a very comfortable and tender way up and down the fourteen-year-old Regulars back, but Sondra couldn't care less, because she realized that she actually had her first ever boyfriend. Too bad he was a greaser, Sondra thought to herself, because if anybody found that out in her mini 'gang', they'd flip, because none of Sondra's friends wanted her to date anybody unless it was somebody from their own kind. That was a common rule pretty much along all three of the gangs in Tulsa, but that didn't stop Sondra to agree saying yes to become Joshua's girlfriend, and nor did it keep Cherry Valence and Dallas Winston apart from each other after they agreed going out only a few weeks before.

"It's just been a long day for me." Sondra softly informed her new boyfriend, as he gently twirled her around after she spoke, and when he caught her back in his arms, Sondra rested her head back down on his shoulder again.

"Well then, that makes two of us. But I got to say, I'm very lucky to get you before any guys that were like pigs got to you first." Joshua whispered into Sondra's ear, making her grin both tiredly, but sweetly, as she heated up more a bit, and she giggled some of her precious, soft laughs.

However, the newly coupled teens were so busy being caught up in each others blushing, giggles, and flirts going back and forth with each other, that they didn't even notice Johnny, who was sitting at the bar, slurping down the final drops of his glass of Coke as he watched. The eldest Cade didn't need to even think twice, nor even once, with the fact that Joshua and Sondra were hitting it off greatly, but he didn't know that they were now happily dating.

"What's wrong, Johnny, kid?" Buck asked as he leaned on the bar from the opposite side of Johnny, across the bar from where he just got finished serving some other greasers some more beer and liquor. The oldest Cade turned his attention over to the owner of the Dingo, taking down the final sip of his Coke while doing so, and he gently, but yet roughly at the same time, made the glass cup meet the bar counters smooth surface. Afterwards, Johnny just glanced back over at Sondra and Joshua.

"Want 'nother Coke, kiddo?" Buck questioned "it's on the house tonight, 'member?"

"Sure, why not?" Johnny simply shrugged his shoulders, and to Buck's surprise, even though he hid his new surprised feelings real well, Johnny's voice was now sounding a bit annoyed and uncaring, but Buck could tell that it obviously wasn't because of him.

Buck then nodded his head as he took Johnny's empty glass cup from the bar counter, then refilled it up to the rim with more Coke, right before placing it back in front of the sixteen-year-old greaser to take, and Johnny, his eyes still glued on Sondra and Joshua, simply took his now refilled glass of Coke from the bar counter without even needing to see where it was.

Confusedly, Buck cocked an eyebrow as he rested his arms there on the bar counter, one folded on top of the other, and he held himself still right there across from Johnny. Buck has known Johnny ever since he was a little one, so he knew deeply when he was upset. Heck, but Buck didn't ever think Johnny would be _that _upset at that moment. He looked pretty angry, but yet filled with pain and sorrow at the same time.

"What's got you down in the dumps, kid? You're usually pumped when havin' our thrilling and tuff greaser only parties, Johnnycake." Buck pointed out. Johnny simply shrugged his shoulders after he took in what the Dingo's owner just informed him on. Then, the sixteen-year-old greaser took a few small gulps of his refilled Coke from his glass, keeping his eyes on Sondra and Joshua still slow dancing, giggling, and whispering to each other for a couple more seconds, but then, Johnny forced himself to look away and gaze at Buck, who was already staring right at him.

"What are you talkin' 'bout, Buck? I'm fine." Johnny lied, and Buck could tell, because when it comes to lying, Johnny's the worst person to ever do it in all of Tulsa, whether it was for him or somebody else.

"Got some girl problems, huh?" Buck questioned, considering he understood that Johnny very much cared about Sondra, and he just saved her from possibly getting raped, but she was yet slow dancing away in another boys arms.

With Johnny's free arm, he crossed it over his stomach, and he gave Buck a sort of stern facial expression, while his other hand held his glass of Coke.

"I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout, Buck. I said so once, and I'll say it again, I'm fine." Johnny repeated himself, but when he was about to gaze back over at Sondra and Joshua to see what they were up to, just in case Joshua wasn't anything close to like Seth was, Johnny noticed Buck just grin a little and roll his eyes, so the eldest Cade quickly turned his full, undivided attention back over to Buck to see him fully this time.

"Johnny, kid, no offence, but you're a terrible liar." Buck informed, sort of chuckling with his words, as he gazed down at his nails, realizing that they needed to be cleaned from the dirt that was darkening underneath them, so he pulled a rag that was resting over his shoulder down, then started cleaning the dirt out from underneath his slimly long nails. Johnny secretly wanted to gag, but he just couldn't, because he was already starting to turn a bright, bright shade of red after hearing Buck point out the fact that he was an awfully terrible liar. Johnny wasn't ashamed of that though. He knew he couldn't tell a lie to save his life.

"..What's your point, Buck?" Johnny dared to ask, and Buck kept on grinning as he tossed the rag back over his shoulder again, and he leaned on the bar counter from the opposite side of Johnny so the two of them could have a chat.

"If you haven't noticed, which I completely doubt, Johnny," Buck began his lecture. "You're completely fallin' for that Baby girl. I must admit, she's a pretty adorable one, and if she was my age, I bet she'd be mine by now...actually, I can promise ya that she'd be mine if we were the same age. But either way, back to you and Baby here, you're just sittin' back and angrily, but yet watching with sorrow at the same time by that look in your black eyes, watchin' her giggle and chat with some other boy durin' this slow song. Why don't you make a move, kiddo?"

Johnny was taking down a little bit of his Coke when Buck gave him that mini speech of his, and from shock since Buck was now sayin' he had a crush on Sondra, too, just like the rest of the Curtis's greaser gang, minus Dally, was goin' on and on about, Johnny had swallowed some of his Coke too fast, causing him to choke on it, and be began coughing a bit, his eyes now big and a bit watery.

"Buck, not you, too! Everyone is telling me that I have a thing for Baby, but I don't!" Johnny coughed a couple more times before going on with what he wanted to say. "Besides, I've never dated anybody before in my whole life! Sure, Baby's pretty. I agree with ya on that, I admit. However, she's too good for me, if I even had _those _kind of feelings for her, and I have no idea how it is to be a boyfriend...I feel like I'll screw everythin' up."

"Now don't be ridiculous, kid. You're young, still got your life ahead of you, ya dig?" Buck asked.

Confusedly, it was then Johnny's turn to cock an eyebrow, and he looked at Buck like he had just lost his mind or something like that.

"What's that got to do with this?" Johnny concerndly questioned.

"Shoot," Buck grinned some more, as he started to snicker a bit. "I used to be just like you, Johnnycake. I used to be a teenager who was always thinkin' I wasn't good enough for any pretty girl like that Baby of yours."

"She's not mi-" Johnny began exclaiming a bit, but Buck cut him off on purpose with more words, while he continued to smile his big, cheesy grin.

"But I then got enough guts to earn over my high school sweetheart. However, after I dropped out of high school, she dumped me, because she was 'Ms. Popular', a hot cheerleader, class president, and all of that Soc-like high school crap, so she couldn't be seen datin' the high school drop-out." Buck went on sharing his story, but when he was going to continue on with more words, Johnny couldn't help himself to do something from feeling so much stress now surrounding and pressuring on him.

"How is this supposed to help me?!" the sixteen-year-old greaser blurted out, his face now heavily red, and his black eyes were huge with pure nervousness now swimming deeply around in both of them. He was now beginning to feel so stressed to the point that he could've sworn that people in China could hear how fast his heart was rapidly pounding.

"I was gettin' to that." Buck informed, and he then continued on with his lecturing speech. "My point is, Johnny, is that when I got older, my whole life still bein' ahead of me, I ended up gettin' a new girlfriend of my own, and all because I had enough guts to go up to her and ask her out. Plus, for a bonus, she was from our kind. Trust me, Johnnycake, I know 'bout this stuff."

"Um, Buck..." Johnny confusedly glanced at the owner of the Dingo, who just innocently gazed directly back at him, waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say. Johnny took down a secret gulp to help clear the lump that was now resting in his throat, considering he didn't know what he was about the say could've possibly been his last words before being tackled down to the floor by Buck, then watching the gang yank him off, wrestling him back.

"Please inform me on if you're still datin' her..." Johnny then was finally able to nervously stuttered out those words after he found his voice, but to his surprise, Buck didn't look like he cared one bit, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I broke up with her last week after a month of going out. Turns out, I wanted her to come visit me more durin' my working hours here at the Dingo, and she wanted to sleep with other guys when I was here. So, yeah. I dumped 'er. That sleazy broad had it comin'...it was only hilarious when she didn't see it coming!" Buck started laughing at his own words, which certainly surprised Johnny, because Johnny knew if he was in Buck's shoes, he would've broken down in tears, and then refuse to ever date again. But Buck was different. He was like Dallas, but minus a whole lot of the attitude. Buck just got tough, not allowing anybody to hurt him physically or verbally throughout his whole life, especially when he was arrested.

"Want a cancer-stick, Johnny?" Buck asked, offering an open pack from his jeans pocket to the sixteen-year-old greaser after he had pulled out and lit a cigarette for himself. Johnny shook his head at Buck's offer, because he still had his own cigarettes. Plus, he was trying to cut back on his smoking habit a bit. He hated setting a bad example for his kid sisters, and if you smoke too much, it's obvious that you'll get real, real sick.

"No thank you, Buck. But thanks anyway. I have a whole pack of my own in my jean jackets pocket. Same with my own lighter that Dallas 'bought' and gave me for my sixteenth birthday. Nevertheless, I don't think smokin' is the answer for my problem right now. And I hate it when Carla sees me smoke. The last thing I need is fighting off a twelve-year-old from cigarettes while I rock a baby back and forth in my arms to fall asleep." Johnny yawned a little, and he rubbed his eyes. His jet-black hair got in his face a bit, so when Johnny decided to tuck it a little behind his ear, the nasty blue, purple, and black color mixed bruise on his jaw was exposed.

"Tired, Johnny?" Buck asked, and Johnny nodded, as he took another few sips of his Coke, hoping it'd wake him up, because greaser parties usually go on until the very early morning. Usually 'round the crack of dawn, that is.

"Dang, Johnnycake! Kiddo, that's quite a new bruise you got there!" Buck then blurted out after his eyes caught the view of the nasty looking bruise on Johnny's jaw. Quickly, Johnny picked his jet-black hair from behind his ear that he just tucked away back out, so he could cover up his bruise again.

"Unfortuently, my old man got mad at me because I couldn't find him the remote fast enough." Johnny sighed, right before he took another sip of his Coke, but this one was a bit longer.

"That crap is _always _mad at you, Johnnycake. You and your sisters." Buck grumbled in a sudden angry tone, his arms now crossed over his chest with his eyes now narrowed, teeth exposed and slightly clenched, and his nose scrunched a bit. Johnny knew he hated his folks guts, just like all of his friends did, but just like Darry, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, Steve, Kitten, Soda, and Dallas, Buck couldn't make Johnny feel any different from his, Cassidy's, and Jocelyn's parents. He honestly loved them, just like Cassidy and Jocelyn did, because they did bring them into the world in the first place, but Mr and Mrs. Cade just never wanted children. They never planned for Johnny, Cassidy, and Jocelyn to happen, but Johnny always knew for a fact that his parents loved makin' 'em more then raisin' 'em.

"Well, it's not like I can do anything 'bout it. If I dare call social services, Carla, Joce, and I could possibly be parted from each other." Johnny pointed out.

"Actually, since you three are so, so close, and not just because you're siblings, but because you honestly love each other, you three can possibly move into a loving couples house here in Tulsa." Buck told the eldest Cade, but Johnny shook his head, taking down some more of his Coke while he was at it.

"No, Buck. I don't want my kid sisters and I to live with strangers. Besides, the only kind folks I've ever met in my life here in Tulsa is Mr and Mrs. Curtis, but they're long gone, however. There's also Mrs. Mathews who's amazing, but Mr. Mathews ain't such a kind guy towards her and Two-Bit. I'm doin' a perfect job on my own with technically raising my kid sisters." Johnny lectured.

"I still have a hard time believin' how you can be so close to resemble a teenage father, but yet, you can't even force yourself to go tell that boy over there to back off and step off your game with Baby." Buck snickered a bit as he secretly pointed a thumb over to Sondra and Joshua, who were both still slow dancing the night away. Johnny could feel the tips of his ears starting to heat up and turn red to match his face. Strange, Johnny thought to himself. His ears haven't ever done that before.

"I don't have feelings for Baby, Buck!" Johnny objected.

"Riigghhtt." Buck chuckled "but yet, you went over and karate kicked that redhead boy in the nose after he attempted comin' so close to raping her. You're in complete denial, Johnnycake."

"Am not!" Johnny instantly shot those two words back, but Buck just continued to grin as he rolled his eyes in a playful manner, right before he said, "My point exactly."

Meanwhile, with all of the greasers having such a great time partying, and Johnny continued to chat with Buck, nobody realized how three certain male Regulars in disguise, as known as Eric, Peter, and Brian, came riding up in front of the Dingo, where they parked Charlie's bike in the old and rusty bike rack, after their long ride from Charlie's house.

"You're such a hot and wonderful girl, Baby. I'm so lucky to be able call you my girlfriend now." Joshua whispered into Sondra's ear, making her giggle a bit more as her face heated up to a shade of bright red, and she continued to rest her head on his shoulder. Just as Sondra was about to say something, she froze, and her eyes grew big a little, as if her tired feelings quickly flashed out of her, because before she could get a single word out, Joshua added the three little words, "I love you.", onto what he said a couple seconds before.

Sondra hated to admit it, especially if Charlie was around, but thank God he wasn't, but she truly didn't know what love was yet. She was only fourteen-going-onto-fifteen before anybody would see it coming, and all she knew about true love was that it involved adults getting married and having babies if they wanted to. Sondra knew for a hardcore fact that Joshua didn't love her, because they were just teenagers, and they knew crap about love. Sondra, her eyes still slightly big, leaned off finally from Joshua's shoulder, and while he grinned greatly and cooly at her, she forced herself to grin as they looked deep into each others eyes, but she was now filled with shock towards what three little words Joshua just told her.

"Oh, um...uh...wow, Joshua..." Sondra nervously stuttered, trying her best to be polite, but she couldn't help herself to use the tone that she was using at that moment. Heck, she and Joshua just met, and here they were just beginning to date for a few minutes, and then, here's Joshua telling her that he loved her. Confusedly, Joshua wiped his smile off from his face, and he cocked an eyebrow. You could see the concern that was gleeing right off from his shimmering eyes, and that made Sondra begin to feel embarrassed a bit. She was now starting to heat up to an even darker shade of red this time, and that was all because she was just told that she was loved by somebody who just started dating her, and she was now growing more embarrassed then anything.

"Baby, what's wrong? Don't you love me, too?" Joshua innocently, but yet cautiously, questioned, and that seriously made Sondra's heart take one heck of a major spring up in her chest. She couldn't believe Joshua literally just asked her a question like _that_. They were just teenagers who just started dating, and they still had their whole lives ahead of them. Hell, they were still just kids. Yes, Sondra knew that she had feelings for Joshua, but she didn't feel like she was actually in love with him. He might've seemed like the one for her teenage life, but adulthood...Sondra had somebody else in mind, because she didn't know what to expect with her first ever boyfriend.

"Well, Joshua...um...eh...hun-" Sondra began speaking the best she could through her stutters and stammers, but before she could speak a single word, she caught a glance out one of the big glass windows of the Dingo to see Brian, Peter, and Eric outside, dressed like greasers, and Peter and Brian looked like they were going back and forth at each other a bit, while Eric just leaned against Charlie's bike, staying out of it with his arms crossed over his chest as he tapped his foot, waiting for the two of them to start acting mature at least just a little bit for that serious moment.

Sondra's eyes shot bigger then ever, and she quickly let out a gasp as she pulled herself away from Joshua, who just concerndly and cautiously glanced at her with worry now piled up in his eyes.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Joshua questioned, his voice soft and caring, but yet worried at the same time, and he attempted to gently take a hold of and grasp Sondra's hand, but she took another step back, while she breathed in and out rapidly, and she gazed back and forth from seeing Peter, Brian, and Eric through one of the glass windows, to her new boyfriend.

"I-I'm so, so sorry, Joshua, but I got to go!" Sondra attempted to quickly jog past Joshua, but he gently grabbed her by her arm, then pulled her back around so their chests were now against each other with their noses now touching.

"Already? Really, Baby? Without even a _kiss _goodbye?" Joshua grinned at his question, and Sondra had another big heart leap in her chest after she heard her new boyfriend say that to her. The fourteen-year-old Regular in disguise as a greaser watched as Joshua stuck his lips out in a romantic way, his eyes now dreamily shut at the same time, but when he attempted to kiss Sondra, she gently, but yet good enough at the same, pushed him away from her, not giving him a chance for his lips to meet her cheek, lips, or just her whole body in general.

Joshua opened his eyes back up and gave Sondra a pleading and begging facial expression. It was as if he was a homeless puppy-dog that was begging for food or something. Man, the adorable look that was now shining in his eyes was totally making Sondra feel like she was about to draw down to her knees, but at that moment, she had to run away from the Dingo, before Brian, Peter, and Eric caught her in there.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Joshua questioned with that same soft and caring, but yet worried tone of his voice.

"Look, Joshua, nothing is wrong, but I really got to get going! I have school in the morning and a test to study for! I'm so sorry, Joshua, but I'll meet up with you around, hun! Gotta go!" Sondra quickly sprinted away, leaving her new boyfriend behind, who kept his eyes on her...until he fell to the floor, seeing nothing but black, but nobody noticed, and to the other greasers that actually _did _notice, they were too caught up in their own things to care and do anything about it. Too bad nobody knew that Joshua was now knocked out, because he had fainted from drinking so much beer, and he was now in the sleeping stage of the beginning of a hangover.

"Johnny! Johnny!" Sondra quickly bashed over to the eldest Cade, who was still sitting at the bar and sipping away at his Coke, and Buck was now serving some other greasers.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Johnny cautiously and concerndly asked as he quickly stood up, then caught Sondra as she ran up to him by gently grasping her shoulders.

"It's Bri, Peter-pie, and Eric-O! They found out I snuck out somehow, because they're right outside and disguised as greasers themselves! If they catch me in here, I'm goin' to be toast!" Sondra exclaimed all in a rapidly and nervously, whispering away voice. Johnny nearly dropped his glass of now fully drank and empty cup of Coke, but he luckily didn't. Still, you could sense how tense he now was with a huge amount of fear in his eyes, and that shocked/surprised facial expression now glued straight on his face.

"We got to get out of here, because if Bri, Eric-O, and Peter-pie realize that you're here, too, they'll tell Charlie-arlie and Becky, and then they'll forbid me to see you!" Sondra added onto what she said a few seconds later after the short pause between her and the oldest Cade.

"Well, I'm not goin' to let that happen!" Johnny quickly shook his head as he placed his empty glass of Coke down on the bar counters surface. He couldn't imagine his life without Sondra. She was beautiful, shy, brave, adventerous, and she was now starting to get better at accepting who she was. Johnny actually loved the fact that she was different. She wasn't like 'em other Regulars who actually plotted secret revenge with their own attacking rumbles on either the greasers or the Socs. And Johnny also enjoyed that she wasn't a greaser, because people who are the same completely are just plain boring. That's why Johnny loved the saying, 'Opposites attract', because he believed that he and Sondra attracted real well as close and best friends together, and he was hopin' that they'd be best friends forever until the end.

"What can we do though, Johnnycake?! There's no place to hide in here! If we dare hide anywhere even, everybody in here is so drunk, high, or just plainly caught up in what they're doin', that they won't even think twice before admitting where we are! Heck, they might not even care to think once! They'll properly say we were making out or something, and trust me, if Bri, Eric-O, and Peter-pie hear that, they'll tell Charlie-arlie, and then-" Sondra went on and on panicking out words, but she finally stopped and got a hold of herself when she felt Johnny carefully, but yet quickly, grasp one of her arms. Sondra didn't mind that though. She trusted Johnny and the rest of the Curtis's greaser gang, except Dallas, completely.

"Baby, don't worry! I know some place where we can run away and off to together! Just for tonight, of course!" Johnny informed the oldest female Prescott, who was only eager to get the heck out of the Dingo so she and her best friend wouldn't get busted by Eric, Peter, and Brian.

"R-Really, Johnny? You'd run away with me for the night?" Sondra asked, and she was an extreme mixture of relief and joy when Johnny grinned and nodded his head, meaning what Sondra just took in from his own words wasn't a figment of her imagination. Johnny's hand that was gently grasping Sondra's arm gently, but yet quickly at the same time, smoothed down until he was able to take a hold of Sondra's hand. Their fingers locked around each others as their palms met, and the two teenagers faces began heating up and turning the same shade of a bright, bright red. Sondra and Johnny looked into each others glowing and shimmering eyes, right before Johnny smiled a little again.

"Come on, Baby. Let's get out of here." Johnny whispered as he got down on his knees with Sondra instantly following him, since they were still holding one of each others hands so they wouldn't get parted in the Dingo. With Johnny leading the way, Sondra crawled behind him underneath the bar counters hollow opening, considering that the chairs where you sat in at the bar counter got pushed in during closing hours.

"Where are we goin', Johnnycake?" Sondra quietly and cauitously questioned after she was able to stand back up on her feet with Johnny when they finally crawled all the way over to the other side of the bar counter. They were lucky that Buck was serving some other greasers at the moment, because if he wasn't, they would've already been busted. Nobody except employees were allowed behind the bar counter, unless your one of Buck's friends, but it must be closing hours at the same time.

"Just follow me. I know where we can go." a smiling Johnny Cade encouraged Sondra to keep following him, and the sweet, handsome smile upon Johnny's face certainly made the worry and concern drain away from the fourteen-year-old female Regular.

"You, um...sure it's safe?" Sondra asked as she used her free hand that still wasn't being held by one of Johnny's hands to tuck some of her golden blonde, shaggy hair behind her ear.

"Oh, I _know _it's safe!" Johnny assured, nodding his head some while doing so, and that was all Sondra needed to agree. She joined in nodding her head, and no more words were spoken between her and Johnny. Quietly, Johnny and Sondra, still holding one of each others hands, tiptoed with each other, Johnny still leading the way the whole entire time until he and Sondra finally tiptoed their way secretly out the back door of the Dingo. After it quietly shut and clipped back, meaning it was all the way closed, Sondra and Johnny stopped holding each others hands, and they broke off into a run, keeping side by side to each other as they smiled and laughed a bit together under the moonlight and starlight that was beautifully bathing them that night.

Nobody realized that Johnny and Sondra both snuck out together. When Buck realized Johnny wasn't there when he was serving yet another greaser, he figured that the eldest Cade had went off to find and talk to Sondra. As for Steve and Soda, they were back to dancing with Evie and Kristy to a song that was now back to a new Elvis tune, and Darry, Cassidy, Two-Bit, Dally, Ponyboy, and Kitten were just kicking back and chatting, while they played some more card games, and Two-Bit and Dallas were most likely going to get rip-roarin' drunk, but Dally can handle it, unlike Two-Bit, who will most likely need to be hauled back to the Curtis's house by the gang, because Two-Bit's mom really wasn't a fan of seeing her only son drunk, and his father got extra violent with so much hollering and cursing when Two-Bit was drunk, but Two-Bit could seriously care less.

Meanwhile, out front of the Dingo, Eric was still kicking back on Charlie's bike that was parked on the old and rusty bike rack, while he uncaringly and annoyingly watched Brian and Peter continue to go back and forth about their ride to the Dingo from Charlie's house.

"I keep tellin' you, Bri!" Peter exclaimed the same thing yet again. "It's not my fault that I can't go on riding for fifteen minutes, especially at this time of night! Need I remind you that we're both failing gym because we don't care to show up for it?!"

Eric rolled his eyes at Peter's and Brian's behavior that kept going on for about five or so minutes straight. Finally, Eric decided to step in and break it up, because he truly did want to complete their mission on finding Baby before it was too late.

"Um, if you two _girls _are finished with your arguement, can I interfer with the fact that we need to find Baby and get back to Charlie's house before he and Rebecca arrive back from the diner with Iris to notice that she snuck out, and we took Charlie's bike that he and Becky needs to teach Iris to ride herself to come all the way deep inside greaser territory even more?!" Eric lectured "the last thing we need is for Charlie and Rebecca to beat our heads in here!"

"He started it!" Brian exclaimed as he pointed one of his pointer fingers over at Peter, who just crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a small glare, considering he desperately was terrible at staying angry with such close friends. In Eric's mind though, they were acting like little whining preschoolers instead of teenagers in high school.

"I don't care!" Eric groaned, doing a facepalm when doing so with one of his hands, while his other stayed in his pocket, and he took in, then let out a deep breath for both Peter and Brian to hear. "Who cares how long it took us to get here! The point is, we're now here, and we need to find Baby before everything goes down hill from Charlie and Rebecca discovering what all has happened tonight, and we get killed." Eric went on with his lecture, until Brian finally cut him off by placing one of his hands up to one of his shoulders.

"Ok, ok, we see your point, Eric-O." Brian nodded, and it didn't take long at all for Peter to uncross his arms and nod along with full agreement. "Alright, Eric-O. Peter-pie. Let's get goin' in before our cover is blown, and we possibly lose Baby...and then most likely our whole lives by Charlie and Rebecca."

With Brian leading the way, Eric and Peter followed, the three of them acting as cool and calm as can be since they were about to enter a hangout where more greasers went then the Socs and the Regulars combined. Eric fixed his hair-greased hair a bit with a comb that was in his jeans pocket, while Peter just simply left his hands that were clenched into fists in his jeans pockets, and lastly, Brian pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, right before he just simply held it, pretending to smoke when he truly wasn't, because like stated in Charlie's rules, they weren't allowed to smoke when watching Sondra.

The three Regulars that were disguised as greasers cooly and calmly as possible, walked through the glass doors of the Dingo, and they could already smell the bitter scent of beer dance through the air, as well as the heavy smoke scent from the cigarettes that were already lit there in the Dingo. Brian's, Eric's, and Peter's eyes were already starting to water a bit, and they seriously felt like gagging, but they refused to draw any kind of attention from any of the greasers that were busy smoking, drinking, playing card games, joking around, dancing, or anything else that they were caught up in doing. It was just a good thing that none of the greasers that actually paid any attention to Peter, Brian, and Eric actually enter to Dingo cared to realize who they truly were. Thank God, Brian, Peter, and Eric thought.

"Is it too late to scream for our lives and run out of here like there's no tomorrow?" Peter asked Eric and Brian in such a quiet whisper so only they could hear what he was saying. But right after Peter said those words, Eric's hand met the back of his head, thumping him. Luckily, it didn't hurt _too much_.

"Don't be ridiculous, Peter! We got to find Baby before anything bad happens to her, or us!" Brian exclaimed in a slimly bit angry and annoyed mixed tone, but he was still keeping quiet, so nobody else but Peter and Eric would hear what he had to say.

"Bri's right, Peter-pie. Let's just simply stay cool and act natural, so we won't draw any-" Eric began explaining what he wanted to say, but before he could finish, two female greasers came walking past Peter, who smiled a big and realistic, but fake grin, and he made a peace look with his hand, saying the exact words for the two female greasers to hear, "Sup, greasy ladies! Enjoyin' the party?"

"...Freaks." one of the two female greasers spoke for Peter, Brian, and Eric to hear, while she rolled her eyes in an uncaring manner, and her friend laughed. Then, they both continued their way over to the bar, so they could get some drinks for themselves and their boyfriends.

"_Attention_...let's just simply stat cool and act natural, so we won't draw any _attention_!" Eric then bellowed, so he could finish what he wanted to say before Peter interrupted him by doing what he did to those two female greasers that were just simply walking past them, thinking that they were already greasers who were just running late for the party.

Slimly embarrassed, Peter wiped the big, phony, handsome grin off from his face, and he placed his hand back down at his side. You could see how his face was starting to glow to a bright shade of red from the embarrassment.

"Right, that's a good plan." Peter gulped down a baseball-sized lump that was then resting in his throat from the embarrassment now starting to come at him hard, but to his and Eric's surprise, they actually witnessed Brian then shake his head at them.

"I actually got a different plan in mind." Brian shared, and he pretended to take another drag of his lit cigarette so if any of the greasers there in the Dingo were staring at him, Peter, and Eric, they'd just simply think that they were three greasers that were having a simple greaser-like conversation.

"Hey, guys." Kitten, who caught the sight of Peter, Eric, and Brian, spoke out to Ponyboy, Cassidy, Two-Bit, Darry, and Dallas. "Who are those three males over there? I've never seen 'em greasers 'round here." Kitten informed.

Dallas kicked back in his seat again and simply shrugged his shoulders, being his cool and usual self after he digested Kitten's words, while the others secretly glanced over to where Kitten was looking at Peter, Brian, and Eric, who were still deep in conversation about Brian's plan.

"Eh, who knows? They're maybe new greasers to Tulsa. Maybe they came from New York like me." Dally suggested, before he picked up his refill of beer, and he took down a gulp of it, using his jackets collar to wipe away the remaining drops of his drink from his lips.

"Wouldn't we know if they're new to here though? We would've at least heard at least one Soc complain 'bout it, or we would've noticed an old, souped-up car driving down the street, considerin' we head out in town a lot." Ponyboy informed, and he was actually correct about that. The Socs actually _would _be heard complaining about some new greasers to 'their' town there in Tulsa, and since Pony is out in town often with Dally, Johnny, Kitten, Cassidy, and sometimes Two-Bit, too, they would've noticed some new jacked up looking car that they've never seen before driving around.

Darry cocked an eyebrow and scratched his chin, taking a moment to digest and think carefully and heavily about what his youngest kid brother just said.

"Hm...Ponyboy's got a point there. But I must admit...those three greasers look familiar...I could've sworn I've seen three Regulars that look a whole lot like them walk 'round together in town and past where I work often...hm...strange." Darry shrugged his shoulders though, thinking it just his mind playing with him, considering that he knew that Sondra was a tuff Regular in disguise as a greaser herself, so other Regulars that he's spotted in the past must've been getting in his head and messing with his eyes. Also, it _was _getting pretty late.

"Oh, please! I doubt Regulars would have 'nough guts to sneak into one of our greaser parties in disguise!" Dallas laughed "well...except that Daby girl, because of Johnnycake wanting her to come along."

"It's _Baby_!" Two-Bit and Cassidy both said together towards Dally, while Darry just rolled his eyes at what Dally said instead, and Ponyboy and Kitten exchanged cocked eyebrows and just their plain facial expressions in general.

"Yeah, whatever." Dally mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring way, and he took one last drink of his beer, before he rested it back on the tables smooth surface, and he went back to kicking back in his patted seat as he rested his eyes shut, deciding to just relax for a few.

Meanwhile, back with Peter, Brian, and Eric, Brian had just got finished finally convincing Peter and Eric to just go with his plan, while he went on pretending to smoke his lit weed while he was at it.

"Bri, are you sure that's such a great idea to do? I mean, you'll be gettin' everybody's attention, and everyone in here is _actual _greasers, unlike us." Peter pointed out, but Brian only shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head at his words.

"Yeah, I know, but this is for Sond-I mean Baby, and we'll do anything to get her back before anythin' bad happens to her, or us. Now, let's just get this started and over with. It's fast and easy for me to do. Just help me up on the bar counter." Brian instructed. Peter and Eric both kept silent, gazing at each other for a couple of seconds after taking in what Brian just told them to do. But then, they just looked back at Brian and nodded their heads together. Brian nodded his head then too, and he put out his cigarette in an ash-tray, right before he walked over to the bar counter, and Eric grabbed one of his arms while Peter grasped the other. As Brian lifted one leg up on top of the bar counter, Eric and Peter pushed him up, and his other leg then was able to climb up as well.

"Ok...here goes Bri's plan." Peter whispered to Eric, as the two of them took a few steps back away from the bar counter.

"We might need to leave this party faster after this 'brilliant' plan of his." Eric gulped quietly back for Peter to hear, as he nervously scratched the back of his neck, and Peter rolled his eyes down to the lower right corner, then over to the lower left corner, and lastly, down the center, each in a slimly worried manner.

"UM, EXCUSE ME, FELLOW GREASERS! I HAVE A QUESTION FOR EVERYBODY!" Brian hollered at the top of his lungs to get everyone's full, undivided attention, and surprisingly, after Brian shouted those words out, the music died down, and everybody there in the Dingo was now staring at him, no longer paying attention to whatever they were doing before.

"Ok, so far, this is goin' better then I thought it'd turn out." Eric admitted to Peter in such a soft and quiet whisper, referring to Brian's plan, and Peter smirked a little, holding back his chuckles as he nodded to what Eric said, meaning he fully agreed.

"You're not from 'round here, aren't you?" Buck asked Brian with this confused expression upon his face.

"Um, excuse me?" Brian confusedly asked, trying his best to be polite, but he couldn't help himself.

"You a new greaser to Tulsa?" Buck questioned, and Brian's heart instantly took a giant leap in his chest, because he was surprised that all of the greasers there in the Dingo were actually falling past his, Peter's, and Eric's diguises.

"Oh, yes!" Brian nodded his head to answer Buck's question. "The names Brian, and my pals, Peter and Eric, are also new greasers here to Tulsa. The three of us recently moved her, so...yeah, that's pretty much it."

Buck shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "Alright. Now, Brian, what may your question be? We're tryin' to have our party before we possibly get ratted by the fuzz." Buck instructed.

"Well, I was just wondering..." Brian secretly took down a gulp, and he prayed to himself in his mind that nothing bad would happen to him, nor Peter and/or Eric, after he asks the question he was 'bout to say for everybody to respond to.

"HAS ANYBODY SEEN A FOURTEEN-ALMOST-FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD REGULAR WITH GOLDEN BLONDE HAIR THAT'S COMPLETELY SHAGGY AND IT GOES DOWN TO HER SHOULDERS?! SHE ALSO HAS LIGHT, LIGHT TAN SKIN, AND SHIMMERING PALE BLUE EYES! PEOPLE USUALLY CALL HER-" Brian went on hollering as much as he could to explain Sondra without saying too much about her, but before he could go on with her nickname, as known as 'Baby', he stopped because he realized he was now recieving death-mock and dark stares from everybody, as well as cold and heartless eyes, except from the Curtis's greaser gang, Peter, Eric, Buck, and the Shepard siblings, because Angela and Curly will still too drunk to understand what was going on, and Tim was now hurling in the bathroom, because of suffering the side effects from getting high.

Everyone in the Dingo, minus the Curtis's greaser gang, Peter, Eric, Buck, and the Shepard siblings, started shouting loud "BOO'S!" and other curse words, and Eric and Peter watched with these looks now upon their faces that made it look like they were saying, "Oh! That _had _to hurt!", because Brian was now getting pelted with plastic cups and whatnot. Plastic might've not been hurtful, but when it's a greaser throwing it, it's like a blade of death from hell.

"OW! OW! HEY! THAT'S NOT-OW! FAIR! OW!" Brian shouted, blocking his face and head with his bare hands, and finally, the pelting was over with, but greasers were still booing and cursing at him, and all because he brought up a Regular. _That's _how much _some certain _greasers hated the Regulars guts.

"I WASN'T DONE, YA JACKLES!" Brian then yelled at all of the greasers, which made him seem even more like an actual greaser instead of a Regular in disguise. Finally, everybody was silent again, but Brian was still recieving the harsh glances.

"Brian, look," Buck instructed in a kind and ordinary tone, as if what just happened didn't happen at all. "We know you're new to Tulsa, as well as these two buddies, Peter and Eric, of yours, but this is a _greasers_ _only _party. We hate Regulars and Socs! Other then those Sherri, Marcia, and Randy Socs, we only like our own kind. We wouldn't allow a Regular step foot in this Dingo during one of other parties and leave alive!" Buck explained, and he started laughing, while everyone in the Dingo, except the Shepard siblings and the Curtis's greaser gang, joined in with him.

"Oh, right..." Brian gulped, his eyes now big from fear after taking in what Buck just said, and when he looked at Eric and Peter, he could see how they were now pale as sheets, as if they just saw a very terrifying ghost, and their eyes were huge also, just like Brian's was. "Well," Brian held back his stutters when speaking. "Thanks, everybody."

Brian then hopped off from the bar counter and landed right in front of Peter and Eric, perfectly on his feet, and without any hesitation, everybody went back to what they were doing, and the music came back on. Brian, Eric, and Peter were completely scared for the first time ever over something that didn't involve Charlie, Rebecca, or anybody else in Sondra's mini 'gang' threatening them or anything like that.

"_Now _can we get out of here?!" Peter asked, egar to leave the Dingo from so much fear towards all of the actual greasers that were there in the Dingo.

"As much as I want to leave, we can't! We need to make sure Baby's not hidin' or something in here! We must stick together and look 'round, ok?" Brian instructed, and as much as Eric and Peter both just wanted to flee and not listen to Brian, they nodded their heads towards what Brian just said, because they truly loved Sondra, and they wanted to get her back from wherever and possibly whoever she was with during that greasers only party.

"Hey, Brian!" a male voice called out, and Brian quickly flashed himself around to see that it was Buck who was the one addressing him. He was busy cleaning off the bar counter a bit with a new rag.

"Yeah, bar man?" Brian asked, truly wishing that he could call Buck by his name, but he didn't know it.

"My names Buck. Mind comin' over here to chat with me? You and your buddies there, please?" Buck questioned with that kind and ordinary tone of his, and the big, cheesy smile that he flashed off made Brian, Peter, and Eric feel ok about actually going over there to sit at the bar counter and chat. Maybe they could ask him only if he ever witnessed Sondra around or anything like that.

Brian nodded his head at Buck and forced himself to grin. Then, with him leading the way, Eric and Peter followed...but then, Peter just decided to go off someplace else, thinking that splitting up was actually a better idea in order to find Sondra.

"So, Buck," Brian addressed as he took a seat at the bar counter, and Eric took another one that was there beside Brian. "You wanted to talk with us?" Brian questioned, and Buck nodded his head, too caught up in thinking about what he wanted to talk about to even notice how Peter wasn't there with Brian and Eric.

"Why were you askin' 'bout a Regular, Brian? Look, I'm not tryin' to be rude, but whatever Regulars you had wherever you and your friends came from, they're not allowed to our greasers only parties here in Tulsa, ya dig?" Buck explained.

Again with that 'dig' term. Brian, Eric, and even Peter, even though he wasn't there with Eric and Brian to hear it, didn't know a single clue 'bout what 'digging' and 'dug' anything or anybody meant. Nevertheless, Brian forced himself to grow a smile again, and he nodded at Buck's question, even though he had the annoying thought about what Buck just asked him with digging him swarming around at him and eating him alive.

"Yeah, we dig ya, but I was only asking because-" Brian said, but he was cut off when Eric quickly took a slimly rough grip of his shoulder, and then said, "Bri, where's Peter?"

Confusedly, Brian cocked an eyebrow as he turned to his right to look at Eric, who was gazing left to right, side to side, and even up and down to see if he could spot Peter, or possibly Sondra, but he couldn't find any of them.

"What are you talkin' 'bout, Eric? Peter's right-" Brian pointed a thumb to the left of him, but when he turned his head to see Peter himself, his eyes shot big, and all of the color drained out of his face, while his heart took one heck of a major leap in his chest, because he realized that Eric was correct. Peter wasn't with them, and Brian knew for a hardcore fact that he told him and Eric to stay together and not split up, because in a place like _that_ at _that_ time, it wasn't such a great idea.

Brian clenched his eyes shut as he slightly clenched his teeth, and he smacked his hand straight onto his forehead.

"That boy seriously won't ever grow up 'nough to listen to the plans we assign!" Brian grumbled for only Eric to hear. Eric pouted a little, somewhat wanting to object, but he knew that Brian was right about that.

"Don't worry, Brian." Eric spoke up, giving Brian a couple pats on the back. "I'll go find him." Eric then sighed in a slimly annoyed tone, because this wasn't the first time that he had to go off to find at least one person in Sondra's mini 'gang' before anything happened. Brian, who was rubbing the sides of his head a bit, nodded his head, keeping his eyes clenched shut while doing so, approving to what Eric just told him what he was going to do. Eric nodded one single time himself, and then gave Brian one final pat on his back, before he got up from his seat and walked off to go find Peter.

Brian grumbled and growled a couple more words to himself before he opened his eyes back up to realize Buck was still watching him with an ordinary look upon his face, acting as if what just happened didn't happen at all. Man, Brian thought to himself. Buck must've been _really _good at ignoring things.

"So, why were you askin' 'bout a Regular?" Buck questioned, as if he didn't even pay attention what Eric and Brian just talked about with Peter going off elsewhere in the Dingo all by himself, even though Buck truly heard every single word between Brian and Eric that was spoken.

"Oh, right," Brian sighed "it's just...Peter, Eric, and I are just plottin' to jump this Regular because...she's a very bad girl...and, well...we're searchin' all over the place for her. She has light, light tan skin, pale blue eyes, and golden blonde hair that's all shagged up and it goes down to her shoulders."

Buck swung the rag that he was using to clean the bar counter over his shoulder, and he shook his head at Brian as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Sorry, Brian, but the only girl that was spotted here that looked just like that wasn't a Regular. She was a greaser, and I believe Johnny called her-" Buck began explaining, but Brian cut him off by allowing his eyes to shoot big, and he could've sworn his heart was now up in his mouth, causing his teeth to jiggle with every pump it made. Johnny...Brian remembered how Peter told him and Eric both about Sondra now being friends with greasers. Johnny was actually her best greaser friend.

Brian then couldn't help himself to interrupt Buck even more by blurting out, "Johnny?! As in.._Johnny Cade_?!"

"Um...yes?" Buck confusingly shrugged his shoulders as he cocked an eyebrow at Brian. "Yes, his name is Johnny Cade. Jonathan Alexander Cade, but people stick to callin' him Johnny for short, or Johnnycake for a nickname." Buck then shared that short information about the eldest Cade, while he began to go back to cleaning the bar counter with the rag that he had swung over his shoulder.

"And what'd he call her exactly?!" Brian questioned after taking in all Buck said to him about the oldest Cade.

"I was gettin' to that before you interrupted me." Buck informed, his voice now a little stern and bitter, but Brian could care less. Buck could punch him in the face and he could care less when doing something for one of his friends. "He called her Baby." Buck finally told Brian after the short pause between the two of them.

All of the color then instantly drained out of Brian's face after he heard what Buck just said to him, and he felt chilly as the freezing cold water that was noting but ice up in Alaska. He couldn't believe it...Sondra actually _had _ran away to a greasers only party, and she must've dressed up like a greaser to sneak in, considering Regulars would get beaten until their heart was torn right out, and their guts were nothing but the color of red, meaning bleeding liquid.

"Now, you're lookin' for a girl who looks like Baby?" Buck asked.

Brian cocked an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder to make sure that nobody was listening, right before he looked back at Buck to answer his question.

"Kinda." Brian then responded with a sort of confused tone, but he hid it from fully coming out real well. Brian then went on explaining as much as he could about Sondra, but being very careful with what words and language he used, because he didn't want to rat out the truth that Sondra was a Regular disguised as a greaser, and she successfully snuck into a greasers only party. If that happened, Brian knew for a hardcore fact that didn't need to be reconsidered twice that everyone in the Dingo could be hunting Sondra down, attempting to jump, or worse, _kill _her, and then, Brian's, Eric's, and Peter's secret would be out as well. Then they'd be the ones who were Regular bait for the greasers in Tulsa.

"Tell you what," Buck grinned after hearing everything Brian told him, which took about five minutes of explaining, and knowing for a fact about how worried Brian was that he, Peter, and Eric wouldn't find Sondra so they could 'jump her' when they truly just lied about that just so they could find her and take her back to Charlie's place, Brian watched, secretly looking worried when Buck wasn't looking, and Buck poured some beer in two little glass shots that he had pulled out from where they were stored behind the bar counter.

"Here." Buck said, still smiling his big and cheesy grin, as he slid one of the shot glasses over to Brian for him to take, and as for the other shot glass, Buck had poured that one for himself to drink.

"Um...what's this?" Brian curiously and cauitously asked, carefully examining the clear, light brown liquid that was resting right there in front of him in the small shot glass.

"A shot of beer, of course. It's called a wishing shot. You take only one drink of it, all in one go, and you make a private wish to yourself when you drink it. So, it's bascially like blowing out a birthday candle, but taking the wishing shot is more fun in my opinion." Buck chuckled a bit at his own words, but to his surprise, he witnessed Brian trying to keep that look off from his face that just sent off the message that he was thinking if Buck lost his mind, offering beer just like that out of nowhere. Then again, Brian knew for a fact that at least every greaser took one single drop of beer once in awhile, but he wasn't truly a greaser. He was a Regular in disguise, and out of everyone in the whole wide world, everybody in Sondra's mini 'gang' were the ones who were against drinking and smoking the most.

"Oh, no, Buck." Brian shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not a drinker."

"What are you talkin' about, Brian?" Buck snickered a bit, thinking Brian was only kidding around. "We're greasers, and all greasers I know drink...well, except for the Curtis brothers, but that's a different story."

Brian remembered. Even though he didn't want to drink any beer, he knew for a hardcore fact that if he wanted to keep himself, Peter, and Eric blended into the greaser background, he had to take the shot of beer. God, help me. Those were the only three words Brian could keep thinking to himself as he lifted up the shot from the bar counter, forcing him to smile at Buck, who was getting ready to take his shot with him.

"Alright, on the count of three." Buck instructed, and Brian nodded his head to just get what was coming to his taste-buds over with. "One...two...three!" Buck announced. Right after he counted to three, him and Brian both took down their shots of beer, making private wishes while doing so. Brian's was easy, of course. For him, Peter, and Eric to find Sondra before anything bad could happen to her. As for Buck's wish...well, nobody really wants to know, because his are just plain weird.

"Mmm..man, that taste gets a whole lot better each time I drink and make a wish. How you feelin', Brian? Any better?" Buck questioned with his smile still on his face, thinking that Brian would like it, but just because he was grinning back, didn't mean Brian loved it one bit. He really hated it!

"Oh, you bet." Brian lied, but he was making himself sound extremely convincing. Man, that beer tasted so disgusting! Bitter and disturbing! It seriously made Brian feel like each of his taste-buds had thrown up all over his tongue individualy, and when the beer traveled down his throat, it make him feel like he was about to gag up both of his lungs.

"You make a private wish on it, Brian?" Buck then asked.

Brian nodded his head, but before he could speak a single word, here came Eric bolting back over to the bar counter like the devil was after him, and he quickly grasped Brian's shoulder, forcing him around in his chair.

"Brian, come quick! Peter's in a bar fight!" Eric worriedly bellowed.

Buck's eyes shot huge and Brian's took a major leap in his chest, and he instantly paled all over again after hearing Eric tell him about Peter.

"Brian!" Buck gasped, completely in shock then, because it was rare for two greasers to have bar fights with their own kind.

"I didn't use my private wish on Peter, I swear!" Brian exclaimed, now completely worried just like Eric was, and also panicked a bit, as he quickly got up from sitting down, and he bashed after Eric, so they could go find Peter and break up this fight that he was in.

Meanwhile with Johnny and Sondra, Johnny had guided Sondra back into the woods, where he then took her to the tree house, and the two of them were now sitting up there, holding each other close as they laid there on the floor together. Since it was freezing cold at night during the fall, Johnny and Sondra decided to wrap each others arms around each other so they could at least attempt to get a little bit more warm. Johnny even allowed himself to take off his shirt so he could help Sondra warm up better by just his usual body temperature.

"So...you and Joshua...are dating now?" Johnny gulped, stroking Sondra's hair as she rested her head on his bare chest, her eyes resting shut in a dreamy way as well. Sondra had just got done finishing every single detail about hers and Joshua's special slow dance to "Put You In A Song" by that Keith Urban fella, including to the leading point where Joshua finally asked her out. Sondra was so caught up blushing and giggling a bit when remembering everything, being so caught up in her dreamy new boyfriend, that she didn't realize how upset Johnny was looking when she wasn't looking.

"Yep." Sondra proudly and tiredly responded. Johnny tried his best to not smile, but when he felt Sondra's lips curl up into a smile herself, it tickled his chest a bit, making him slightly chuckle. Sondra's smile grew bigger and brighter when she heard Johnny's laughter, and she tiredly opened her eyes so hers and Johnny's could actually meet. When their eyes looked directly into the others, Johnny couldn't help himself to actually smile.

"Well...I'm certainly happy for you." Johnny shared, but man, that was one heck of a lie. But Sondra was such in a dreamy mood that she didn't catch the lie.

"Thank you, Johnnycake. And thanks so much for running away here with me." Sondra thanked as she rested her eyes shut again.

"Yeah...no problem." Johnny yawned a little, right before he closed his eyes shut as well...and before the two teenagers knew it, they fell asleep in each others arms...and they weren't aware that people...were climbing up the ladder that entered the tree house...

**A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuuunnnnnn! Cliffhanger! Suspenseful! I hope yawl enjoyed this chapter, and I'm so sorry for waiting a lot to update, but schools insane right now, so please be patient! But, if yawl would please, _please _review, I'll attempt to update faster! _Pretty please review_! Thank you all so much, and I'll update ASAP, whenever I can. Please review though, if you all want more chapters, that is! I'll read you all in the next chapter, if I get reviews, that is. Thanks so much, everybody! I adore each and every one of you! Please review! :D :D :D :D**


	22. Lessons (Part 1)

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the reviews and favorites! Keep 'em comin', please! :D**

**Enjoy chapter 22, and _pretty please review_! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, _please_! Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 22 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

_Chapter 22_

Sondra was still fast asleep, but then, about fifteen or so minutes later since she and Johnny had accidentally fell asleep in the tree house, their arms wrapped around each other in order to just stay warm during the breezy, chilly fall nighttime, the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old female Regular began to stir, now resting flat on her back with her arms now exactly down by her sides, which was strange, because she fell asleep with her arms wrapped around Johnny. As a matter of fact...Sondra, even though she was stirring and was still fuzzy a bit from only starting to awake, she didn't feel Johnny's arms wrapped around her anymore. Sondra knew for a fact that she doesn't twist and turn in her sleep often, and she wasn't sure if Johnny did at all, but now...Sondra started to realize that was resting down underneath her wasn't the hard wooden floor of the tree house...but she was now resting back on something that was extremely soft, cozy, and warm. Something fuzzy-like was wrapped and tucked around her body also.

"J-Johnny?" Sondra stirred as her eyes cracked open a bit, and they instantly met a light that was dimmed on a bit from the ceiling. That's weird, Sondra thought to herself. The tree house couldn't possibly have any lights, considering they can't get any kind of electricity out in the woods. The warmth grew more on Sondra as she attempted to move around a bit, but she was just too tired to possibly get up to save her life. So instead, since Sondra didn't know completely where she was from feeling absoluetly fuzzy from just waiting up, the fourteen-year-old Regular clenched her hands to grab a handful of whatever she was laying on suddenly. She attempted yanking it up a bit, but it wouldn't budge.

"Baby? Baby, I'm here. You're comin' to after wakin' up from sleepin' in the tree house." a male voice explained to Sondra, but she was still trying to get over being so, so tired after falling asleep in Johnny's arms on accident on the hard wooden tree houses floor that the male voice sounded like it was coming from a distance to Sondra. She stirred a bit more before she could actually force herself to sit up. Sondra curled her legs up, feeling that they were now resting underneath this fuzzy-like thing, and she curled her knees up in her chest as she rubbed her eyes, releasing a yawn while doing so.

"Huh? Johnny? Is that you?" Sondra asked, trying her best to figure out who's male voice that was, considering her vision was a little blurry still, and she was still attempting to fully awake after recently waking up from a long night of smelling the bitter scent of beer mixed together with heavy scent of smoke from different brands of cigarettes floating all around at a greasers only party at the Dingo, leading up to her meeting her first ever boyfriend, and then running away with the eldest Cade to the tree house where they both fell asleep in each others arm accidentally when just trying to stay warm during the chilly night.

"Um, no? Baby, you're exhausted, so you don't know what's goin' on after this long..long night." the male voice informed the oldest female Prescott, his tone now sounding somewhat disapointed. Finally, without any hesitation finally, it was as if the tiredness was knocked right out of her, because her eyes shot huge, and she gazed all over where she was now at from left to right, side to side, and up and down. Oh my god, Sondra thought to herself, after realizing the fact that she was no longer in the tree house with Johnny, but she was now resting underneath the warm and fuzzy blankets and sheets of the guest rooms bed in _Charlie's house_.

"What the hell?!" Sondra gasped, not being aware of her language since she was certainly shocked after she woke up back in Charlie's house when she remembered for a fact that she fell asleep on the floor of the tree house in the woods with the eldest Cade after they snuck out the back door of the Dingo and ran away.

"Hey! Watch your language, missy!" the male voice snapped, sounding now slimly stern, and without any more single moment to wait, Sondra flashed her attention down to the foot of the bed to see that the male voice that had been speaking to her ever since she woke up was coming from Peter, who was now looking at her with his eyes slightly widened from catching what 'kind' words she just used, and there was now this terrible looking scratch now marked there a little below around the center of Peter's neck.

"Peter?!" Sondra blurted out, more fearful and shocked then anything. She gazed down at herself, realizing that she was still wearing the pair of greaser clothes that Kitten and Cassidy had sat her up in, and to make things even more surprising, Sondra was wearing make-up, and she _never _wore _any _kind of make-up except the kind that matched the color of your skin so she could hide as much as her injuries as possible. That's when Sondra knew for a fact that what all happened late that night at the greasers only party _did _happen, and it wasn't a dream, even though at that moment, half of Sondra was wishing for that.

"Oh my god! What happened to your neck, dude?!" Sondra gasped when her eyes mainly stayed zoned out completely on the terrible looking red slash-like scratch that was cut across the center of Peter's neck. Thank God no blood was drawn, Peter thought to himself as he kept his eyes still on the fourteen-year-old Regular while he moved one of his hands up to cover and rub the nasty scratch that he now had on his neck. It was still tender and gave off sharp stings whenever Peter attempted to even lay a finger on it, so he thought it'd be best to not touch it and just leave it alone for a few, and then he'd put ice or something cold on it later.

"Look, that doesn't matter." Peter pointed out, and he changed the topic without a single second more of waiting to do so. "But you want to know what _does _matter?"

"That you have a social studies test tomorrow?" Sondra questioned, hoping that'd be good enough to change the topic to something else yet again, because she knew for a fact that she was busted after going to that greasers only party.

"Eh," Peter shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring way towards what Sondra just said. "I'm skippin' school 'gain tomorrow, so I don't have to worry 'bout that test."

"Then what is it?" Sondra grew her small, precious, adorable grin. Since she knew that she couldn't change the subject, she might as well attempt to let herself off the hook towards Peter, considering she knew what was coming. Nevertheless, it didn't work...well, maybe a little. Peter couldn't help to grow one of his little handsome and bright, playful smiles when he caught the look that was now plastered on Sondra's face, but he then shook his head, still smiling when doing so, which meant that he knew what she was trying to do.

"Baby, you had me, Eric-O, and Bri worried absoluetly _sick _tonight, don't ya know that?" Peter questioned, his voice now surprisingly innocent and gentle towards the oldest female Prescott. Then again, he _was _Peter, a wisecracking teenager who _never _liked being angry or upset in any way or form towards any of his friends, so Sondra could tell why Peter was being so kind to her. He loved her deeply, just like everyone in her mini 'gang' did.

"I-I'm sorry, Peter-pie! But I was only-" Sondra began exclaiming out words in a sorrow filled voice, but she stopped when Peter placed his right hand up to his shoulder. He shook his head, and Sondra sunk back down into the bed, beginning to feel hot, steaming tears egging on deep inside her, eager to come out, but no matter how much pain her throat was in from holding back the billions and billions of cries and howls, Sondra didn't allow a single tear to fall from either one of her eyes in front of Peter. She desperately loved him just as much, as well as everyone else in her mini 'gang', including her blind little sister.

"You were tryin' to have some fun, right? Typical teenage excuse, trust me on that. But, Baby, you're too young to be gettin' into trouble like this, but just 'cause I say that _doesn't _mean I think you should go out and actually _try _to look for this trouble when you're older, even though it's always creeping up right behind you and snippin' at your ankles." Peter lectured. Man, Sondra thought to herself. She never actually expected to hear Peter say quite a powerful lecture like that, and it shocked her real good, but the fourteen-year-old girl wouldn't allow her shocked feelings to show. She was still in too much sorrow pain to do so.

"And how old were you when you did this kind of stuff, Peter?" Sondra asked, her voice sort of harsh, but that was only because she was fighting back the sniffles and tears that were still desperately wanting to pour right out of her.

Peter didn't respond so quickly to that question. Actually, he hesitated, now cocking an eyebrow as he glanced up at the ceiling as he made his thinking expression, which made his handsome green eyes sparkle with a glassy-like gleam. Peter knew for a fact that he got into trouble from his own folks, to his older brother, to teachers and the principal at his and Sondra's mini 'gangs' high school (which is one of the main reasons he ditches.). Everyone in Sondra's mini 'gang' loved and understood each other, even though they argue sometimes and go through trouble, but at least they actually _have _each other to count on.

"Hm...I think I snuck out to my first party when I was ten years-wait! That's not the point! At least when I snuck out, I didn't go to a greasers only party in such a dangerous place! How do you actually think I got this scratch on my neck?! You asked me a bit earlier, and I'll tell you right now, it's 'cause I got into a bar fight with this man who I thought was a girl, and I ended up calling him a very pretty manly lady because I panicked!" Peter exclaimed, and to Sondra's surprise, adding even more unnoticable shock to her mind, Peter was actually starting to raise his voice a little with her. Sondra wanted to speak up, but she was still too upset to even cough up a single word, so she just listened to what else Peter had to lecture her on.

"Baby, that was extremely stupid of you, and I can't believe you because you're _you_! You're a very bright almost fifteen-year-old Regular, and here you are goin' 'round some greasers hang-out disguised as a greaser yourself!" Peter began a new lecture that he had been planning out when he watched and waited for Sondra to wake up, whether it took minutes or even hours. Sondra finally open her mouth to attempt to say something, but she just couldn't get any word out due to her still feeling the strong sorrow coming and shocking throughout her entire body. All Sondra did was continue to just rest there on her right side, holding the tears back even harder and more as her hands clenched the warm, cozy, and fuzzy blanket that was tucked around her body.

Peter was about to continue on to finish his new lecture, but he decided to close his mouth as he pouted, and that star of sadness began twinkling off both of his usual playful and caring green eyes. He could tell how upset Sondra was now feeling in herself without even needing to look at her face, and on top of that, he knew that all of his lecturing didn't matter, especially at that time, because he knew who would be comin' up to see Sondra way sooner then later.

"...Look, Baby," Peter took in and let out a deep breath, but before he could continue on, Sondra finally was able to find her voice, even though it was a sorrow and down tone.

"...W-What happened to Johnny?"

Those were the first words Sondra spoke up with ever since Peter began going on about how wrong her decision was about going to that greasers only party, as if the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old Regular didn't know _that _already. Peter was relieved to hear Sondra finally begin talking, especially to him, again, but he started to then scratch the back of his brunette hair, which was now damp and hair-grease free, because Peter had got done taking a shower about ten minutes before.

"Um...you mean the tan boy?" Peter hesitantly and nervously questioned. Sondra's eyes shot huge, and she could feel the tears coming on even more, but she still wouldn't break down like that. Peter's eyes shimmered with that star of sadness glowing in both of them again, as he nervously bit down on his lip, considering he understood who Sondra was talking about. None other then Johnny Cade.

"P-Please don't t-tell me that y-you, Eric, and B-Bri-" Sondra began breathing in and out rapidly with nothing but absolute sorrow in order to keep all of her steaming, hot tears pulled back from shedding one bit.

Peter instantly shook his head, then started to talk, cutting Sondra off herself before she could go on saying anything ridiculous, like if he, Eric, and Brian jumped him, or if they killed him, or something far terrifying and terrible.

"Bri, Eric-O, and myself climbed up to the tree house a bit later after we left the Dingo and left into the woods to continue on searchin' for you. That's when we found you fast asleep on the wooden floor with your arms wrapped around this shirtless tan boy who looked 'bout your age. He was sleepin' away like there was no tomorrow as well, and he was holding you close to his bare chest, one of his arms connected around your waist, and the other gently handling the back of your head."

Sondra's face heated up to the shade of a bright, bright red out of embarrassment once again that night, but out of two different things. One, Brian, Eric, and Peter actually caught her fast asleep in some boys arms. And two, Peter actually said that Johnny looked Sondra's age. Sondra knew that Johnny was short for his age, but she didn't care about his height. At least they could look directly into each others eyes instead of looking up or down at each other like other teenagers are usually like, not mattering what gender they were or who they actually were.

"...Yep, that's my best greaser friend, Johnny." Sondra took in and let out a deep breath, thinking that Peter was about to cut her off there, but to her surprise, all he did was continue to sit there at the foot of the bed, grinning a little as his eyes now started to dazzle with that playful mischief, and he continued to keep his mouth shut as he listened. Sondra didn't know what Peter was thinking, but since he was one of her best friends in her mini 'gang', she knew that it was nothing to worry over, so she went on talking more, her voice soft and gentle, but her face continued to stain a bright, bright red, so it was obvious that she was still embarrassed.

"...He's actually sixteen, but he's a bit short for his age...and I panicked when seeing you, Brian, and Eric outside the Dingo through one of the glass windows, so when I ran to Johnny to get help, the two of us ended up running away from the Dingo together. He had picked the tree house, where we do our tutoring all the time, to hide away in. It was freezing up there, obviously, so we were only laying close like that on the floor of the tree house with our arms wrapped 'round each other for warmth. That's why Johnny was shirtless, too." Sondra explained as much as she could in as much detail as possible. Who knows, Sondra thought to herself. Maybe her punishment would be cut down by her mini 'gang' if she explained everything as much as she could so nothing would be taken the wrong way.

"But we didn't mean to fall asleep! It's just been a long night!" Sondra added on quickly, but to her surprise, instead of getting any yelling or more lecturing, she heard Peter actually laugh. Now fully showing her shock, Sondra sprinted up into a sitting position on the warm and comfortable bed so fast, as if the devil was right underneath her, and she couldn't believe she was now actually seeing Peter continue to grin at her as he chuckled some of his handsome and soft laughs.

"Y-You're..you're not mad at me, Peter-pie?!" Sondra stuttered out with complete startle in the tone of her voice, after she actually _was _able to get words to come out from her mouth. Peter continued to smile a little as he folded his hands together and rested them on his lap, playfully rolling his eyes while doing so.

"Of course I ain't angry, Baby...I mean, sure, I'm a bit shocked and disapointed, but-" Peter began trying to explain it, but Sondra cut him of by crossing her arms over her chest and cocking an eyebrow at him, leaving Peter then quiet and speechless as he stared confusedly at his young friend.

"_A bit_?" Sondra questioned, trying her best to keep a straight face, but she couldn't help herself to look down at the blanket that she was comfortably and warmly underneath, and she shook her head back and forth a bit, so Peter couldn't see her smirking. That's when Peter grew a smirk himself, because he knew that trick Sondra was tryin' to pull over him. She had picked it up from Charlie and Eric, who were the ones who tried to hide their smiles and even their laughter at times like that, but they just couldn't help themselves.

"Oh, ha, ha, ha. Very funny, Baby." Peter sarcastically, but playfully at the same time, chuckled a bit himself as he spoke those words. It didn't take Sondra long at all afterwards to feel Peter suddenly grasping one of her ankles that were hidden underneath the blanket. Sondra shot her full, undivided attention to her brunette-haired friend, now watching him with big eyes as he gave her a new smirk. That playful mistchief was back in his eyes, glowing away, and Peter tugged up the blanket a bit, only to expose Sondra's foot that he was gently, but yet firmly, grasping.

"I'll teach you to question' me like that!" Peter joked, trying his best to sound stern to just fit the act, but his own chuckles kept interferring with his acting.

"N-No! P-Peter! Stop i-it!" Sondra began laughing away like there was no tomorrow, twisting and turning wildly on the bed with the rest of her lower body still underneath the bed covers and sheets. Peter had started gently stroking away at Sondra's foot, wiggling his fingers all up and down her sole, adding a few pokes and wiggles inbetween her toes while he was at it. He smiled the whole time, chuckling to himself some more from having so much fun with hearing Sondra's laughter going off after all that she's been through that night.

"Now why would I stop?" Peter snickered, still joking like his usual self, continuing to tickle Sondra's poor, trapped, sensitive sole.

"T-This i-is t-t-torture!" Sondra tried her best to explain some more and go on with more words, but instead, she kept busting out more of her sweet, bright, and beautiful laughter. Peter continued to smirk with that playful mistchief still twinkling away in his eyes as he stopped attacking Sondra's foot, but he continued to hold her ankle so she couldn't get away. He was only doing that to help her catch her breath, which she rapidly was as she laid there on the soft sheets, flat on her back with her right hand resting on her forehead, which was bright red already from laughing so much, and some tears of laughter were sprinkling out from her relaxed shut eyes.

Peter gazed over at Sondra, watching and waiting for her to open her eyes. She couldn't wipe her smile off from her face one bit, and when she finally opened her pale blue eyes, Peter formed a phony frown upon his face. Sondra giggled a little more, knowing he was only playing still.

"But it's fun!" Peter chuckled, right before he smirked again, then began using both of his hands to start tickling away, up and down Sondra's soul, and wiggling inbetween her toes, making the defenseless fourteen-year-old girl start to trash around again, laughing away like there was no tomorrow, and more tears of laughter started coming out from her pale blue eyes like a sprinkler.

"P-P-Peter! S-Stop! I-I think I-I'm goin' t-to d-d-die!" Sondra couldn't help to laugh even harder as Peter targeted her belly and ribs then. Finally, after about thirty or so more seconds of nothing but tickling and pure laughter, relief completely filled Sondra as Peter backed and laid off of her, chuckling a bit when doing so, and Sondra giggled a bit more as she hid underneath the bed covers, acting more like a three-year-old playing hide-and-seek or something like that.

Peter crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, playfully rolling his eyes while he was at it.

"Baby, no offence, but that's the worst hidin' place in the whole universe!" Peter laughed himself. Sondra then popped out from underneath the bed covers, smiling beautifully and widely while doing so, right before she chuckled out the words, "I know, but it's the best I got!"

Peter continued to grin as he playfully rolled his eyes again, and he shook his head, chuckling a bit.

"Alright, alright. 'Nough playin' 'round, Baby. I'm sorry to inform you that Eric, Brian, and I called Charlie and Rebecca to get back here with Iris ASAP, because we needed to tell 'em what all happened tonight." Peter sighed, his chuckling now no longer being heard, and that rare pout was now plastered on his face. Sondra's smile instantly flashed off her face and her mouth dropped open, her eyes shooting huge while doing so. Considering that Peter was always a wisecracker and happy-go-lucky nearly 24/7, it was obvious with him frowning with that look of plead now dancing in his eyes that he wasn't joking one bit.

"What?!" Sondra gasped "why'd you guys call 'em?!"

"I'm sorry, Baby! I'm so, so sorry!" Peter begged and pleaded with many more apologizes, but he knew Sondra wouldn't listen to them at that moment. "Becky ended up calling to see how everything was doing when Bri, Eric-O, and I left to go find you, meanin' nobody answered the phone! Charlie then attempted to reach us _seven more times_! Finally, on his last call, he left a voice-mail that was exclaiming to Eric-O, Bri, and myself in such an angry tone to call back unless we wanted our whole lives to be taken from us when they got back from whatever diner they're at. So..." Peter took in and let out a deep breath before going on, his words sighing with sorrow. "After we came through the front door and listened to the messages, I decided to be the one to stay up here with you, while Brian makes the call back to Charlie-arlie and Becky, and then, he and Eric would be waitin' for 'em downstairs, which they're doin' now."

Sondra seriously couldn't believe every word that just came out of Peter's mouth. She could seriously feel her heart rapidly chasing in her chest like there was no tomorrow for her, and the color literally rushed out of her skin. Sondra began to tremble, feeling a cold chill of fear spark though her body, and Peter threw a comforting, protective arm around her, holding her close to his side.

"Oh, man!" Sondra gulped "Charlie's goin' to kill me!"

"No, he won't, Baby. He loves you, just like the rest of our 'gang' does." Peter informed "and besides...Becky's most likely goin' to get Bri, Eric-O, and myself good..."

Sondra opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could get a single word out, a loud bang from downstairs was heard, which was the sound of the front door swinging open and bashing into the wall without any cares. A loud male voice was then heard echoing throughout the household, "WHERE IS SHE?!", and a pair of dark footsteps were starting to stomp away on the wooden floor.

Sondra's eyes shot bigger then ever before as the color rushed completely out of her face, and she began to feel trembling cold. No questions needed to be asked...Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris had returned from whatever diner they were at.

"Oh my god! I'm doomed!" Sondra gasped, knowing for a hardcore fact that Charlie was looking for her.

Meanwhile downstairs, Brian and Eric were now nervous and fearful as can be, standing in front of the staircase as Rebecca glared at them, her eyes narrowed and arms crossed over her chest, and Charlie looked just as ticked...man, this wasn't goin' to be good.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! If you all want more chapters, please review! I need the reviews to keep my writin' spirit, please! No negative comments or flames though! They'll be deleted and gone forever ASAP. Stay tuned for part 2 to see what Charlie will do...if I get more reviews, that is. Pretty please! Please review! Thank you all so much! I adore each and every one of you! :D :D :D :D**


	23. Lessons (Part 2)

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites, and a special thanks goes out to my two great friends, booklover450 and AlongTheBinding, who always review each of my chapters! Thank you all so, so much! It truly does mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! :D**

**Enjoy chapter 23, and _pretty please review_! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, _please_! Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 23 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

_Chapter 23_

"Charlie, please calm down!" Brian begged, trying his best to get Charlie to calm down as he stomped all around the downstairs floor of his house. Rebecca was busy at the moment with only scowling away at Brian and Eric, while she held Iris close to her, her hands gently locked over her ears so the young blind child wouldn't hear any words that were being said. Rebecca didn't bother saying anything. She was going to deal with Eric, Peter, and Brian while Charlie handled Sondra.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Charlie bellowed out the exact same question for about the fifth or so time since he first slammed the front door into the wall when he swung it open rapidly, and he continued to stomp all around, searching anywhere he possibly could for Sondra.

"Charlie-arlie, _please _calm down!" Brian pleaded again, holding him and Eric both back as they stood on the carpeted staircase and out of Charlie's path. "Eric, tell him!" Brian exclaimed at Eric, his voice now being mixed with fear and nervousness towards what else Charlie was going to possibly do.

Eric's face flushed to the color of sheet white, and his heart felt as if it literally took one heck of a major spring, right before it just dropped.

"What?! You're kiddin' me, right?!" Eric asked in a slimly panicking tone, his words being sent out to Brian. "I'm not _that _brave, dude!"

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Charlie shouted yet again. Brian and Eric both yelped a little when Charlie shot them both his stern and furious glance, but when they clenched their eyes shut, thinking he was about to get them good, they began filling up with absolute relief when all Charlie did was push them out of his way, and they both reopened their eyes to look over their shoulders and notice Charlie just taking off up the stairs so fast, as if the devil was chasing him with his war of demons.

Eric and Brian both exchanged their wide eyes and pale facial color, as they both took in heavy breaths, then released them back out. Nevertheless, when they looked back around in front of them, they watched Rebecca, who still had a glare on her face shooting off right at them.

"Iris," Rebecca instructed as she turned her scowl into her pretty grin, only because she was now gazing down at the seven-year-old blind girl, her hands now gently resting on her shoulders, and Iris was now clenching her white and pink cane because Rebecca just handed it to her. "Be the good little girl that you are and head into the living room. Get some rest on the sofa again. I'll call yours and Baby's folks to have 'em knowin' you're both stayin' the night again." Rebecca went on instructing, and Iris nodded her head after hesitating towards the words that she just heard, due to her brain damage.

"Yes...Becky..." Iris understood. Rebecca gave her a gentle and helpful little start by grasping her little hand with such a caring grip for a few seconds, only to lead her over to the hollow doorway that entered Charlie's living room. After that, Rebecca released Iris's hand, and Iris could take care of leading herself through the room, because she and Sondra had been over at all of the members of Sondra's mini 'gang' a good amount of times for Iris to be able to guide herself around with her cane.

When Iris was out of the room, all Rebecca did was place her hands, which were now clenched into fists, on her hips, and she narrowed her twinkling eyes once again. Her teeth clenched, now being exposed from her lips no longer covering them, and Brian and Eric both quickly refilled with the fear and nervousness that was swarming around them and within them not long ago at all with Charlie.

"So..." Eric gulped "...is Bri, Peter-pie, and I allowed to be in this sleepover?"

Brian allowed himself to release some phony chuckles and snickers, while Eric cracked a fake, but realistic grin. They were only trying to brighten up the mood of the scene at least just a tiny bit, but they could tell by the facial expression that they were still recieving from Rebecca that their attemps weren't working one bit. They were seriously in for one heck of a lecture from Rebecca.

Meanwhile upstairs, Charlie had just finally unlocked the guest bedrooms door from Peter locking it after he settled Sondra and tucked her comfortably underneath the fuzzy covers of the warm and cozy bed. Actually, Charlie didn't just _unlock _the door, but since he couldn't find anything to unlock it, and not to mention the fact that he didn't remember where any of the keys were, and lastly, he was just filled with too much anger at that moment to give a crap about _unlocking _the door...he broke the door open by bashing his arm into the wood. He _was _an excellent football player. After he got the door open, it swung open and hit into the wall with one heck of a loud and echoing **_BANG_**.

"Charlie!" Peter exclaimed in a nervous and fearful tone, but all Charlie did to him was grasp his arm, then he yanked him out of the guest room, right before he slammed the door shut again and locked it, leaving only him and Sondra, who was now feeling so terrified in what was going to come to her that she was starting to shake and tremble a bit. Nobody ever in her mini 'gang' has ever been angry with her before. Not ever once, and seeing Charlie now ticked in her was a complete new thing for her to ever experience.

"Charlie, I-" Sondra began trying her best to explain everything, but when Charlie flashed himself back around towards her direction, his red face, clenched teeth, and sharp eyes was totally enough to get the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old girl to shut her mouth.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You could've been killed tonight, you know that, right?!" Charlie bellowed as he pointed one of his pointer fingers in a rage filled manner at Sondra, who was too scared and nervous to say anything without stuttering and whatnot back to him.

"C-Charlie, I-I'm so sorry..." Sondra stuttered out the words that she was trying to string out together the best she could, but they kept getting caught and jammed in her throat, choking her, and keeping her mouth taped shut.

"You're _sorry_?! You're sorry?! Baby, are you freakin' kidding me?! Here you are dressed as a greaser after sneakin' out to a greasers only party when you know exactly what's right and wrong among our kind, and now you're apologizing for doing it when you knew for a fact that you could've been busted doing it all along?!" Charlie demanded, speaking all of that in one go without any hesitation or needs to think what word came after the next.

"Charlie, would ya calm down?!" Sondra blustered out after she was finally able to gain her voice back. She was now using an annoyed and sassy tone towards Charlie, but she could really care less at that time.

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down at a time like this?!" Charlie gasped, his voice remaining full of rage as he clenched his fists so tightly together at his sides that they were beginning to tremble, and his skin began turning to the shade of a bright, bright red.

"Yes!" Sondra answered, not needing a single moment of hesitation to pause and think _that _question through. "Would you just quit it with the harsh tone and stop with the negative words?! I know what I did was a dumb decision because I'm however a Regular, but I must admit, it was a pretty good hell of a time!"

"Watch your choice of language, Baby!" Charlie growled. You could tell his anger was starting to decrease a little in the sound of his voice, but he was just so close to Sondra that, believe it or not, he was truly containing the same amount of rage inside of him, but he wouldn't allow much of it to sink out at Sondra. He loved her to death too much to ever dream of hurting her in any way or form, just like every other member in Sondra's mini 'gang' did.

"Aw, come on, Charlie! You and the others use that language constantly!" Sondra informed.

"We're older then you, Baby! We've experienced much more in this part of the world called Tulsa that we picked up this language from the amount of times we've been jumped and whatnot by some greasers, but mainly Socs!" Charlie explained, but his voice was still choking back his anger behind his slimly clenched teeth.

"So what?! That's got nothin' to do with me, Charlie, and-" Sondra began going on with a lecture of her own, but before she could continue on with another single word or breath, Charlie cut her off.

"You know what, Baby? You're right! Our language has nothing to do with what terrible decisions you made tonight! And to make it all even worse, here's Brian, Peter, and Eric getting dressed up as greasers themselves, and they took off to the Dingo where that greasers only party was held, which is where you and Johnny Cade took off and fleed together to the tree house!" Charlie lectured.

Sondra clenched her hands into fists as she threw her arms across her chest, and she narrowed her eyes, which were now starting to fill up with some steaming hot tears of both sadness and anger, but mostly sorrow, and her face began brightening up to a bright, bright red. She shook her head slowly back and forth as Charlie continued on with what he wanted to say as he rapidly paced back and forth along the wooden floor of the guest room, leaving Sondra now quiet as she choked back her tears the best she could. Her heart was now racing so rapidly fast in her chest as well that every single pump it made, it was about five or so times faster and faster.

"Charlie, it's not what you think! I thought the party was actually pretty fun! For this one night, I actually felt free and alive instead of being cramped up all by myself in this guest room, and the Curtis's greasers gang ain't actually that bad! You've met 'em, and so did Rebecca! You two know how kind they are! Well...except Dallas Winston, but he's Dallas Winston." Sondra cut into Charlie's lecture. However, Charlie wouldn't have it. He was too busy being caught up in what all he heard about what happened that night over the phone to even think about Sondra's words towards him. At that time, that is. He'd get back on 'em sooner or later.

Charlie stopped pacing and turned his full, undivided attention over to Sondra, who was still just sitting there on the bed with the fuzzy-like covers resting on the lower part of her body. He then crossed his arms over his chest and allowed his eyes to grow big a bit, realizing something. It was as if his anger was completely gone, but it wasn't. It just decreased more, and some sorrow began taking its place.

"Baby...are you wearing..._make-up_?" Charlie asked as he slowly approached the bed, his eyes remaining wide a little and on Sondra, who just innocently gazed back at him, and Charlie took a seat down on the foot of the bed, getting a better and closer look to realize that he was correct. Sondra was now wearing eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow, lipgloss, and some blush.

"Actually, yes. Kitten Andrews and Carla Cade gave me this greasers make-over to keep my 'true' self hidden so I'd fit in at the greasers only party. It ain't my fault Johnny invited me to help me forget 'bout my lame skills in math." Sondra informed.

"Baby, you're.._joking_, right?" Charlie asked, and to Sondra's surprise, he was now starting to sound like some sorrow was draining into his voice, and a phony, but realistic grin was now plastered on his face, while he allowed himself to let out some fake chuckles. Sondra could tell he was faking his smile and soft laughter, but she didn't know quite why, so she only cocked an eyebrow at him and watched, keeping her mouth shut as she listened carefully and fully to what else Charlie had to say to her.

"Baby..." Charlie sighed. He gently relaxed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath through his nose, right before he reopened his handsome, shimmering eyes, and he released his deep breath through his mouth. "Baby," Charlie repeated himself with the same now quiet and sorrow filled tone. "How old are you again?"

Confusingly, Sondra took a moment to digest Charlie's question, wondering why in the world he was asking that, because every member in Sondra's mini 'gang' knew each others birthdays by heart, so they would always know each others ages along with that. Nevertheless, the confusion didn't stop Sondra from shrugging her shoulders, right before answering Charlie's question.

"Fourteen." Sondra spoke up after hesitating a little so she could think about Charlie's question.

Charlie grinned another phony, but realistic smile as he nodded his head. He was thinking that Sondra didn't know that he was faking his smile, but he was wrong. Sondra always knew when her friends were joking around or lying about anything or anybody.

"Almost fifteen, huh?" Charlie then asked with a single shrug of his shoulders.

"Yes, I'm almost fifteen." Sondra approved, nodding her head a few slow times after thinking about that new question of Charlie's.

"Seein' anybody special?" Charlie questioned after hesitating a little himself from hearing Sondra's last response to his last question.

Sondra's eyes grew big a bit as her face flushed to a blushing red, and she began rubbing her bare hands up and down her arms. She then bit down on her lip a little, thinking heavily about Joshua now. He was quite a handsome and kind boy, Sondra thought, but he was a greaser...or that's what she believed, considering the fact that she didn't know that Joshua was truly a Soc in disguise who broke into the greasers only party with some of his pals, and he got rip-roarin' drunk to the point that he didn't realize what the heck he was saying and/or doing.

"Well...I actually...um, I...I sort of...got a boyfriend now, Charlie." Sondra told her friend, and by the facial expression that she was now recieving from Charlie, Sondra could tell that he didn't like that reply one bit. But what's even more shocking was that, Charlie didn't look angry one bit either...he actually looked...upset with much sorrow. His eyes were now like a puppy-dogs, begging and pleading away, and a huge pout was now curled upon Charlie's lips, his face being the color of sheet white from finding that answer of Sondra's so unexpecting. Charlie took down a gulp to help him clear the baseball-sized lump that was now resting in his throat.

"You have a...what now?" Charlie gulped, being a complete mixture of both sorrow and new surprised feelings instead of any sign of anger. Man, Sondra thought to herself in a surpised/shocked/startled manner. That totally wasn't the response she thought she'd earn from Charlie after informing him news like _that_. She always pictured him driving up the wall, lecturing her on how boys her age played dirty games and whatnot, but she was actually wrong. Charlie wasn't angry...but...was he actually...now sad?

Hesitantly, Sondra nodded her head, keeping that cautious facial expression stuck upon her face the entire time.

"...A boyfriend...I met him at the greasers only party...his name is Joshua, and he's actually a-" Sondra explained, but before she could get the final word out, Charlie said it for her as he nodded his head with complete understanding. His voice was still now completely soft and sorrow filled.

"Greaser."

"...Yeah, you took the word right out of my mouth." Sondra replied "but...what do these questions have to do with-"

Charlie stood up from the bed and looked away from Sondra, pressing his hands against the wall with his left leg in front of his right on the floor, and he kept quiet, clenching his eyes shut as his heart started to beat like a wild and crazy drum in his chest.

Confusingly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow all over again, just continuing to sit where she was in the same position on the warm and cozy bed of Charlie's guest bedroom, because she didn't know what Charlie was up to.

"You're not, um...you're not...taking any drugs or on any right now, right, Baby?" Charlie questioned, still not opening his clenched shut eyes or turning back around in the direction towards the bed, which was only about a couple of inches away from where he was.

"No!" Sondra shook her head, hiding her shock that instantly struck her after she digested that new question of Charlie's. She thought that he knew her better. She'd _never _even touch a single drug. Smoking was another thing in Sondra's mind though. She controlled her smoking perfectly. She only smoked a cigarette when she was in complete thought, or she was thinking things heavily through, or she was just plain nervous and/or terrified to the extreme.

"Not sleepin' with any boys?" Charlie asked. His voice was still in its soft and sorrow filled like stage, but Sondra wasn't thinking that through. She was too busy being caught up in how these questions of Charlie's were just coming out of his mouth.

"Ew!" Sondra gagged, and she couldn't help herself to cough a few times from that disturbing question. Then, she shook her head a little bit more faster, but since Charlie wasn't staring at her, she knew that she had to get to him with more words.

"Charlie-arlie," Sondra instructed, deciding to use Charlie's kiddie name from his childhood to see if it'll help at all, but it secretly didn't. It only made Charlie feel worse about what he was already thinking in his mind. "I'd _never _make such a ridiculous decision. No, I'm not sleeping with any boys." Sondra shared.

"Well, what 'bout that Johnny Cade boy?" Charlie demanded, even though the tone of his voice wasn't filled with a single sign of anger or commanding.

"We're just _friends_!" Sondra exclaimed. She didn't like raising her voice even a bit towards any of her friends, but she was trying to only get that message through Charlie's head.

"The last time I checked, Baby," Charlie informed "friends don't get up _that close _with each other."

Sondra didn't need to question herself one bit to know the fact that Charlie knew about how she and Johnny were holding each other close up in the tree house, and they both fell asleep in each others arms on accident.

"That was an accident!" Sondra objected "it was freezing up there, and we both needed to make sure we wouldn't freeze to death! So, Johnny took off his shirt so he'd be able to keep me warm by keeping his arms around me with his body temperature! I repaid him just by lockin' my arms 'round him as well! We then both past out from being so exhausted after runnin' away from the Dingo and whatnot that we crashed up in the tree house and in each others arms!"

Charlie was speechless. That was quite a lecture to earn out of Sondra Allison Prescott. It was totally something rare, that's for sure. Sondra watched with her full, undivided attention, now keeping her mouth shut completely, as Charlie made his feet now meet against each other, and he removed his hands from the wall.

"So, nothin' happened? Not even a single kiss?" Charlie asked, still not making eye-contact around at Sondra just yet.

"With who?" Sondra asked with a single shrug of her shoulders. She honestly didn't know if Charlie was referring to Johnny, Joshua, or any boy in general.

"Anybody!" Charlie responded.

Or a boy in general is the answer, Sondra thought to herself in her mind, before she opened her mouth and said the exact words, "Nope, nothing happened. I didn't kiss anybody tonight either. The closest things I've gotten to any boys tonight were only Johnny and Joshua, and we were only slow dancing."

"Say what?!" Charlie gasped as he finally spun himself around. He was now as white as a sheet, and he had this hurt look trying to remain hidden from his face, but he couldn't help it from finally making its apperance. Sondra's eyes grew big a little when she watched as Charlie's eyes began to water, and he fell flat back down onto the foot of the bed, locking his hands over his face.

"Charlie!" Sondra worriedly exclaimed. She crawled her way down to the foot of the bed, and when she was now sitting right next to Charlie, she threw a comforting arm around his shoulder, using her other hand to gently and comfortably grasp one of his wrists. She would've held his hand to help calm him down, but he was using his hands to cover up his red stained face. His eyes were now clenched shut all over again, and drops of water were now starting to spurt out of him faster than a sprinkler. Sondra couldn't believe it...Charlie was actually..._crying_. Charlie never cries, and when he does, he does it when nobody else is around, so they wouldn't witness him shed a single tear. Charlie has been in fights after fights, drawing blood and causing broken bones, all for protection, but he's _never _even cried about any of the injuries he had recieved or caused others in the past.

"I never knew you danced, Baby!" Charlie sniffled, still keeping his hands locked over his face to keep his tears hidden, but Sondra could tell that he was crying as much energy he had stored within him out.

"...Neither did I." Sondra muttered to herself, being so quiet so she could only hear her own words, but she spoke up with her ordinary tone for Charlie to actually hear her, the exact words, "Charlie-arlie, you alright?"

"...Why wouldn't I be?" Charlie questioned. He was desperately trying to choke back the tears and hold back the sniffles, but he couldn't help 'em both one bit from happening. He was too upset with so much sorrow at the moment to hold anythin' back to save his life.

"Well, you're crying your heart out!" Sondra answered, not needing a single moment of hesitation to reply to _that _question.

"No, I'm not!" Charlie objected "I don't cry! I'm not cryin' one bit! I'm not crying!"

"Charlie, don't be ridiculous! I can tell when you're not tellin' the truth!" Sondra informed. She gave Charlie's shoulder a little comforting squeeze, hoping that would help him at least a little bit, and luckily, it did help a bit. Charlie removed his hands from covering up his face, allowing his tears that were pouring out of his red-rimmed eyes to be seen as they drained down his red face. Sondra grinned a little, right before she gently locked her fingers around Charlie's fingers on the hand of his that she was gently grasping with such a caring grip after sliding her own hand down from his wrist.

Charlie then couldn't resist to smile at least a tiny bit back at Sondra. She was just so dang adorable, even though she was a fourteen-year-old teenager. She just had that effect on people with making them feel better just by smiling, because she actually cared about and loved everybody for who they were, even the Socs and the greasers, but she couldn't resist gettin' ticked at the opposite gangs in Tulsa a whole lot. You really couldn't blame her there, though.

"Hey, Baby?" Charlie asked, sniffling a bit with his words.

"Yes?" Sondra concerndly questioned, but instead of getting any verbal response, she only watched as Charlie shrugged his shoulders at her. Then, Charlie relaxed his tearful, red-rimmed eyes shut in a dreamy like way, and he slowly moved in. Sondra didn't move a muscle, and for one heck of a surprise at a time like that, Charlie kissed her head. After he did that, he opened his eyes back up to see how Sondra was now gazing at him. She was trying to be polite and not looked surprised, but Charlie knew that she truly was surprised that he gave her a friendly kiss at that time, considering all that happened that night with Sondra going out to a greasers only party and whatnot.

Sondra then grew even more surprised when Charlie picked her up easily, him being super strong from lifting weights and playing football amazingly, and he placed her on his lap, locking his arms around her and holding her close. He rested his head on top of hers.

"...I was just like you." Charlie choked out after the long pause between him and Sondra both, and he hesitated a bit more when taking in some shaky breaths from him still crying a little.

"...What do you mean?" Sondra questioned, mainly concerned on how Charlie used to be just like her. Charlie seemed too much of the opposite to be used as an example as a similar person towards Sondra. While Sondra was shy and sensitive, Charlie was tough and protective. She always felt trapped and as if she couldn't have any fun, and he was always outgoing with his best pals, doing whatever whenever they could from bowling, to going to the movies, or to simply just hangin' out with each other at each others 'cribs', or houses. Actually, having friends was something else completely different between Sondra and Charlie both. Charlie had the 'gang', his football team players, others he met at the gym, etc. All Sondra had was her mini 'gang', and the Curtis's greaser gang...nobody else.

"When I was your age, I always thought havin' fun was 'unleashing it' by sneakin' out and going out to parties with friends and/or strangers also. However, I was big time wrong. You want to know where my _actual _fun and thrill came from?" Charlie questioned, but instead of Sondra actually answering, she just kept her mouth shut so she could hear what else Charlie was trying to tell her. She being quiet was Charlie's message to keep going.

"Well, my real fun came from my football skills and hangin' out with my peeps back then, and it changed no different-" Charlie was about to go on with more words, but instead, he stopped talking himself as he cocked an eyebrow, and he touched his chin, thinking now about what words he was attempting to say correctly. "Well..." Charlie sighed "...I must admit, things _have _changed, but-"

"What kind of things?" Sondra cut Charlie off this time, innocently staring at him, and he stared right back at her, forming a slimly pouting type of face when their eyes met. Sondra's were full of questions and concerns, while Charlie's eyes started glowing with nothing but plead and begs. Nevertheless, when Sondra asked questions, whether he liked it or not, Charlie knew that he'd have to answer 'em sooner or later. It's best to just get it over with at that exact moment, Charlie thought to himself, and he sighed.

"Baby, I always thought when I was your age only one thing that seems simple to think and say, but it's extremely difficult to actually handle it when you get to that point." Charlie explained.

"What one thing is it?" Sondra asked, resting her head on Charlie's chest, and he began to stroke her shagged up, golden blonde hair with one of his hands, while his other continued to hold the hand that Sondra had been offering to him ever since she witnessed him starting to cry.

Charlie took in a deep, hearable breath and let it out, both through his mouth, after three seconds of holding it in, and his eyes secretly began to sparkle off more tears that were starting to form quite a bit.

"...I couldn't wait to grow up...I'd actually live my own life in my own ways with my own money and my own rules, having a beautiful wife and children to love and care for forever, while we lived deep within New York, where I grew up..." Charlie began snickering a little bit as he spoke his own words, but the new hot and steaming tears remained glimmering in his eyes as he grinned a bit.

"So..what happened?" Sondra concerndly asked. She was seriously starting to act like a four-year-old who's recieving a bedtime story in Charlie's mind, but he decided to keep that opinion to himself, because if there was one main thing Sondra hated next to being labeled a Regular in Tulsa, it was going through getting compaired to a child, and getting told things that made it seem like she was a toddler or something. Sondra was only nicknamed 'Baby' because she didn't feel comfortable with others she hardly even knows actually knowing her real name. It wasn't like Sondra adored her nickname from the beginning, but after Gabe died from...the nickname, 'Baby', certainly growed on the oldest female Prescott.

"I actually reached the age I'm at right now...and looking back on the days I had when I was your age, compairin' to what I go through and have right now, I seriously have a hard time believing that I actually went into _that deep _of thoughts about my future with a spouse, kids, and where I'd go...I mean, sure, I want to do those things, but growing up isn't such a thrilling thing like I used to think it was when I was younger. Your age, to be exact. Trust me, Baby...when you're my age...you'll be wishin' you were fourteen again...you're goin' to miss these days and want 'em back desperately, understand?" Charlie lectured.

Nervously, Sondra placed her right hand on her left shoulder, and her left hand on her right side. Her eyes started glowing with sorrow a tiny bit, and she continued to relax her head on Charlie's T-shirt, allowing him to continue to stroke her hair.

"B-But...I'm almost fifteen...I'm growing up, don't you see?" Sondra questioned.

Charlie sighed in a regretful/sorrow tone as he nodded his head. "Yes, you are...but at the same time, you're not. Look, life goes by so, so fast, and before you know it, you'll be eighteen yourself, handlin' college and most likely a job. Right now, you don't have to worry about handling any of that drama. You're lucky still remaining so young with your whole life still out in front of you." Charlie explained.

Sondra shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess..." she sighed uncertainly. "But...what will the rest of my life hold _after _college?"

"It just depends who you'll want to marry, how many kids you want to have, what your job will be, and where you want to live. Nevertheless, you shouldn't be thinkin' about that stuff now. You're only fourteen-going-onto-fifteen. There's plenty of time to think _that _stuff through." Charlie responded.

"But, Charlie," Sondra gulped "I already know that I want to have at least four kids with a loving life in the country...is that bad?"

"No, of course not." Charlie shook his head. "Just remember though that your mind will change over time, and your plans might change, but if you feel it's the right thing to do, then it's for the best in the future...however...Baby?"

"Yes, Charlie-arlie?"

"...I...I don't like this one bit."

Confusingly, Sondra placed her hands back down at her sides as she leaned back a little, and Charlie gazed into her eyes as she looked into his.

"What don't you like, Charlie?" Sondra confusingly questioned.

"...You're wearin' make-up...you have a boyfriend now...you're hangin' out with new friends a whole lot lately...you're slow dancin' with boys...Baby, you're growin' up..." Charlie sighed "...I still remember when you were only twelve, when you met Rebecca, me, and the rest of the gang...but now...you're almost fifteen, and you're absoluetly showing many changes, don't ya understand?"

"But I'm still no different from who I was in the past!" Sondra began shedding some of her tears, because she was realizing how much Charlie was correct about her growing up and changing like every other typical teenager. "Charlie...are you mad at me?"

"I must admit that I was before..." Charlie connected his arms back around Sondra once again, keeping her held close to him. "But I'm not anymore...and I'm afraid to inform you that...Baby...you'll have to say good-bye one day to me and the rest of the 'gang'...because we're goin' to be goin' to college before anybody knows it, and-"

Before Charlie could say another single word, Sondra tackled him down on the bed, now bursting into tears after she digested what he said.

"No! No!" Sondra cried and cried, holding herself close to Charlie. "Charlie-arlie, no! Good-bye is the saddest word I'll ever hear! I don't want to say it anytime soon!"

"...You will have to, unfortuently...but luckily, we still got a couple years ahead of us...I love you, Baby." Charlie had started crying himself, holding the fourteen-year-old teenager close to him, as if she was the most valuable thing in the whole wide world.

"I love you, too, Charlie-arlie." Sondra sniffled, and it was obviously that she and Charlie were no longer arguing...but only god knew what would happen the next day...it would certainly be something Sondra didn't expect herself to do...

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Dun, dun, duuuuunnnn! I hope yawl enjoyed this chapter, and if you all want more, _please _write reviews! Please review! I'll update whenever I can, if I get reviews, that is. With only five days left of school, I got to keep on top of my grades, and my birthday is Saturday, so I'll be busy all weekend with celebratin' that. Please review once again, and thanks so much! I adore each and every one of you! Thanks, everybody! Please review! :D :D :D :D**


	24. Sick Day

**A/N: Still not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! :D**

**Oh, and also, thank you for the comment, Kenzieloo! Also, I know the whole Joshua thing is shocking, but you'll understand why I added him in later...mwhahaha! I'm evil. ;) ;D**

**And thanks my golden friends, AlongTheBinding and booklover450 for reviewing as well! Also, booklover450, thanks for the b-day wish. **

**Anyway, enjoy chapter 24, and _pretty please review_! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, _please_! Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 24 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

_Chapter 24_

It seemed just like it was only the night before to Sondra, and she was crying in Charlie's arms after he told her that one day she'd have to say good-bye to him, Rebecca, and the rest of their mini 'gang' since they were all planning to go to college. Sondra remembered all that happened the night before from the greasers only party, to Charlie tucking her in back at his place in his guest rooms bed, warmingly sheltering her with the fuzzy like blanket by tucking it fully around her body. Sondra was so exhausted, but that didn't stop her from smiling a little as her eyes fell shut, then reopened a few, slow times, until she was finally out like a light...but not before she felt Charlie's lips gently give her another friendly kiss on her forehead, and he whispered, "You'll _always _be my baby friend, Baby."

After that, Sondra didn't know what to expect, because it was now the next day, and only God knew what would happen day after day, month after month, year after year, etc. By the time the clock struck 6:00 or so in the morning, Sondra awoke to Peter waking her up. There was no need for tickling that morning. Sondra got right up, despite her droopy eyes and yawns, and she changed into a pair of her own clothes after sleeping in those greaser like clothes that belonged and needed to be returned to Kitten. So, Sondra slipped them into her book-bag after she got dressed into a pair of her light wheat-colored, worn out jeans, a baby-blue T-shirt that revealed her bellybutton, a dark blue pair of slighty dirty tennis shoes, and of course, her favorite light blue-jeans jacket. For the first time in awhile, Sondra combed her hair a little, but still left it all shaggy, since it was her style. Lastly, Sondra washed off all of her make-up, the warm water greeting her face instantly awaking her, but when she removed _all _of the make-up, she revealed the patches of her skin that were covered in bruises and scratches.

Sondra didn't have any time to grieve about it, even though she felt like crying a little when remembering her folks doing that to her. Instead, Sondra relaxed her eyes shut, took in a deep breath, and then let it out, both from her mouth. Then, after she reopened her pale blue eyes, she dried off the remaining warm water from her face, and then applied on the make-up that matched her skin color, so she could hide her injuries like usual. Nevertheless, Sondra was running out, so she couldn't hide one bruise that she hid behind her bangs a bit. After that, the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old girl was finished getting ready for the school day, and she snatched up her backpack, swung it over her shoulder, then exited Charlie's guest room, continuing her way down the hallway and carpeted staircase.

Rebecca, Peter, Eric, Brian, and Charlie were all waiting for Sondra to eat breakfast with them, which is when she had her face turn a bright, bright red color when she tried to hide her smile, because Brian, Peter, Eric, and Rebecca kept bringing up all that Charlie told them about Joshua, which wasn't that much, but still enough to get them interested. All Charlie did was smile and chuckle a bit to himself, being quiet and reminding the others to do so as well, because Iris was still fast asleep, covered warmly and comfortably with a blanket and a teddy bear that Eric fetched her after she fell asleep on the couch.

Nevertheless, that was when Sondra first woke up. She had just finished packing up her school supplies in her locker, and leaving to her first period class with the books and supplies that she needed pinned close to her stomach.

"COMB YOUR HAIR, WHY DON'T YA, REGULAR!" a male Soc called out, his buddies then howling with laughter after he hollered that out when Sondra just simply past them in the hallway.

"YEAH, HAVEN'T YOU'VE EVER HEARD OF A COMB?!" another male Soc shouted.

"WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!" a female Soc then yelled, her boyfriend, who was holding her close as they leaned against some lockers, then cursing Sondra out like tomorrow didn't even exsist.

Yep, not much at all changed at school. Actually, nothin' really changed, Sondra thought to herself as she sighed, not allowing herself to frown at all in front of the many other students, which were mostly Socs, who were mocking, laughing, and cursing at her, because if she even dared to quiver her bottom lip or form one single tear in either of her eyes, the bullies would know that they're winning, which they want. But if Sondra didn't show any response to do with what all they're doing to her, then they'd properly knock it off.

So, all Sondra did was keep her mouth shut and eyes forward, tuning and blocking out the negative words, mocking laughter, and whatnot that she was getting that school morning from mainly her Soc peers. For another rare day, since Sondra spent the night at Charlie's house, she'd be right on time for first period, so she knew that she had enough time to meet up with Johnny at his locker, which was just a bit down the hall from hers. However, the strange thing was, Johnny wasn't there. That's weird, Sondra thought to herself as she cocked an eyebrow and continued her way down the hall confusingly. Johnny would always usually be at school, even though he wasn't a fan of it there.

This strange, sick knot began tightening up in the pit of Sondra's stomach, now feeling nothing but complete concern about Johnny, and about what happened the night before when Peter told her that he, Eric, and Brian didn't do anything bad and/or hurtful to him, so it couldn't have been _that _bad. Well, actually, Sondra was only trying to convince herself that, but only God knew what had happened, and what was actually going on at that time wherever Johnny was. That was then the time when Sondra remembered Kitten's clothes, and she quickly trotted down the hall, then she turned around the corner, leaving her to find Kitten, who was emptying and stacking books and her other morning classes supplies in her locker, or resting them on the floor for her to pick back up and take to her morning classes.

"Hey, Kitty-Cat!" Sondra greeted, her voice quiet and soft like it'd usually be in school, as she trotted over to the ginger-haired greaser gal, who instantly gazed at her and grinned her beautiful, innocent looking smile after her eyes met her. Kitten seriously thought she'd never be so thrilled in her entire life to ever spot a Regular that she didn't need to threaten or jump to beat up or something like that.

"Hiya, Baby!" Kitten waved with her free hand that wasn't busy still holding the remains of her books and other supplies that she had to pack away in her locker until later that afternoon. "What's up?" Kitten then asked, her voice polite and kind towards the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old Regular.

"I've been meanin' to give your clothes back to you." Sondra showed Kitten the greaser like clothes that she had wore the night before at the greasers only party, which were neatly folded and resting on her morning classes books and other supplies. But to Sondra's surprise, Kitten only grinned as she shook her head, not taking the clothes back.

"No, no, Baby. You keep them. They're yours now." Kitten proudly spoke. Sondra's eyes were now widened a little when she gazed down at the neatly folded greaser like clothes resting on top of her first periods books and morning supplies, quickly shaking her head when she and Kitten met each others eyes again.

"Oh, no. No, Kitten. I can't. These are yours, not mine." Sondra pointed out, but Kitten only continued to smile that small, pretty grin of hers as she shrugged her shoulders. Sondra seriously couldn't believe it. She never thought about a greaser actually being so generous with her, a Regular, and allowing her to keep a pair of their own clothes.

"Now they aren't mine, and they're now yours, Baby." Kitten instructed.

"A-Are...are you sure?" Sondra questioned, only stuttering a bit since she was just so surprised in what Kitten was saying to her.

"Yes," Kitten finally spoke, grinning once more after speaking. "And I won't take no for an answer."

"...Gee..." Sondra gawked a little, but then, she knew she now had a new pair of clothes, considering Kitten wasn't taking them back either way. All Sondra did then was nod her head in thanks to Kitten, who was still smiling at her as she bowed her head in response to the fourteen-year-old Regular's thanks, right before she started doing what she usually did with her extra books and other supplies in her locker, stackin' 'em neatly and whatnot.

"Say, Kitten?" Sondra stated after a little bit of hesitation. "You know where Johnny is today? He wasn't at his locker."

"Oh, yeah..." Kitten sighed, and Sondra was shocked, whether she showed it or not, to now see the first ever female greaser in Tulsa pouting for the first time ever since...never. Kitten has _never_ frowned in front of her before because Kitten Elizabeth Andrews was one heck of a tough gal who rarely got hurt, but when it comes to her best, best friends, she can't help herself to show how upset she truly is on the inside on her out for them.

"Johnnycake won't be at school today. The gang called him before leavin' the Curtis's house this morning and we found out that he has a cold. A nasty one, too. Stuffy nose, hurtful headaches, hot to cold flashes, sore throat, and a bit of a sick stomach, but he can't eat anythin', otherwise he'll just throw it back up." Kitten described everything that she could tell about the eldest Cade, but she didn't know quite what sickness Johnny had. Sure, it was a cold, but what kind of cold? Nobody knew from the Curtis's greasers gang, but in Sondra's mind, it sounded like the stomach flu or something like that. She remembered how her mini 'gang' always took care of her and Iris when they got something from a simple little cough or sneeze, to what Johnny had with this terrible case of the stomach flu.

Kitten remembered the phone call from that morning...the sound of Johnny's voice sounding so stuffy...and in the background, you could hear his mother cursing, while Cassidy and Jocelyn were most likely hiding in the closet in theirs and Johnny's bedroom, which was where Johnny always instructed them to hide, and their folks never found out. Their father wasn't home. He must've been at the bar, drinking his life away, leaving his wife to just smoke her million packs of cigarettes that early morning, having her also curse and holler at their son, and they didn't put any mind or cares towards their daughters during that time. Johnny always protected his sisters from any hurtful words and/or striking beatings, allowing him to be the one taking either one of 'em, even if they were both at the same time, just so he could protect Cassidy and Jocelyn.

Sondra's face paled as her mouth fell open, and you could see some tears starting to form in the corners of her pale blue eyes. She locked her free hand over her mouth, allowing her tears to form more as she shook her head back and forth, mumbling to herself, "No...no, no, that _can't _be true! He _can't _be sick!"

Sondra knew that Johnny must've been left in the tree house all by himself after Brian, Peter, and Eric discovered them, and they just abandoned him, thinking he'd live, which he successfully did with no trouble at all, but the chilly breeze and cold fall night caused him to get a cold.

Ponyboy's voice started to echo in Kitten's mind, she now remembering the entire conversation over the phone from that exact early morning, when she, Two-Bit, Pony, and Steve were sitting and waiting outside on the Curtis's front porch for Johnny to show up for them to get to school like usual...Darry had brought out the phone from the living room, handing it over to Ponyboy, who asked who it was, and Darry took no hesitation to answer that it was Johnny, and he didn't sound too good. Then, Darry left back into the house to continue getting ready for work, while Soda finished up his breakfast in the kitchen, and Dallas was sleeping on the Curtis's couch in the living room with Jocelyn past out adorably on his chest. Cassidy had walked to school herself like usual that morning...

_Two-Bit was busy smoking himself a cancer-stick to keep his chances of getting caught smoking on school ground extremely not likely, because he'd just get his cigarette right then and there. Steve, on the other hand, was sitting on the first of the two steps of the Curtis's front porch, skipping stones and listening them tap along the concrete until they entered the short green grass after he tossed 'em. Kitten was only reading a new book, which was labeled, 'Something Borrowed', since she finished 'The Giver' the night before. Nevertheless, after they heard the conversation..._

_"Who is it, Dare?" Pony questioned, taking the phone from his oldest brother, who looked ashamed, but that usually look of nothing continued to gaze off of his handsome eyes._

_"It's Johnny. He sounds not good at all. He's properly sick." Darry explained, and he didn't wait a single second after telling what he thought to get back into the house, because he didn't want to see how nervous, upset, scared, or anything like that, that his youngest kid brother and three of his best pals properly looked._

_...After Kitten, Two-Bit, and Steve overheard what Darry said to Ponyboy, they quickly stopped what they were doing, their eyes now huge and faces paled, as they quickly flashed their full, undivided attention over to Pony, who was clenching and gazing at the phone in his hands with a hurt and worried facial expression glued upon his face. Two-Bit had instantly put his cigarette out, releasing his finally breath that contained a puff of gray, and Steve had turned himself completely around to see Ponyboy, while lastly, Kitten rose from the Curtis's front porch swing and closed her book, slipping it back into her book-bag afterwards._

_Heastitantly, Ponyboy rose the phone slowly up to his ear, and he took in a deep, but soft breath to remain calm, releasing it a few shaky seconds later._

_"Johnny?" Ponyboy somewhat 'greeted' over the phone._

_"...Hey, Pony." Johnny's voice was stuffy and containing many coughs. Darry was right, Ponyboy thought as his eyes went big like the others, and his face turned sheet white, too._

_"...W-What's wrong? You okay?" Pony asked, completely eager to find out how Johnny explained his sickness, but instead of words, all the youngest Curtis got in response was a few hacks and coughs from the eldest Cade. At first, that is. Ponyboy was about to repeat the same question, but before he could get a single word out, Johnny spoke up, his voice remaining stuffy, and you could tell that his throat was clogged with the stupid illness._

_"I'm sorry, Pony, but I-I- ACHOO!" Johnny sneezed over the phone on accident, trying his best to hold his sneezes back, because his mother hated the sound of them, and he didn't want to worry his friends anymore then he could tell that he was doing already from being sick._

_"Bless you." Kitten's, Two-Bit's, Steve's, and Ponyboy's voices echoed together. Johnny's sneeze was loud enough for the other three greasers that were with Ponyboy to actually hear._

_"Two-Bit, Steve, and Kitty-Cat heard that?" Johnny asked, surprised._

_"People in China heard that, Johnnycake!" Two-Bit chuckled, trying his best to find at least a tiny bit of sunshine at that horrible time with his jokes, but all he got was a small rock getting thumped over his head from Steve throwing it at him, a scowl now also being shot off in his direction. That comment would only make Johnny feel more terrible with his cold. _

_"Oh, well..." Johnny sighed, then coughed some more. "Listen, Ponyboy, I'm sorry, but I-ACHOO! I can't go to-ACHOO! School today...I got a cold. Sore throat, stuffy nose, sick stomach, and a very bad cough, along with the sniffles. Man, my head is-ACHOO! Killing me..."_

_"Oh, lord, Johnny Cade!" Ponyboy cried out with absolute worry. "I'm so sorry! It's fine, don't worry. Whatever happens today, I'll take extra notes to give to you."_

_"Pone, you don't have to-ACHOO!" Johnny was cut off from his own sneezing again._

_"SHUT UP ALREADY, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF-" Mrs. Cade went off in the background, calling Johnny every word in the book that made Ponyboy seriously feel sick to his stomach. Kitten, Two-Bit, and Steve could hear Mrs. Cade's haunting and scarring tone, filled with pure anger and absolute rage as she hollered at her son. Two-Bit seriously paled even more, as Steve took down a deep gulp to help him get that new baseball-sized lump in his throat to go away, and lastly, Kitten rolled her eyes down to the lower right corner, then over to the left lower corner, and lastly, down the center, before she gazed directly back up at her three guy friends._

_"I-I'm sorry you g-guys heard that." Johnny sighed, now sniffling, meaning that he was starting to cry from his mom's hurtful words that would scar him for life. Man, if Dally was up at that time, he'd snatch the phone from Ponyboy and tell Johnny to put him on speaker, right before he'd screetch and yell at the top of his lungs, cursing and threatening Mrs. Cade like there was no tomorrow. However, Dallas was fast asleep, and if you woke Dallas Christopher Winston up from his sleep, you'll be long gone._

_"Johnny, are you sure you'll be alright?" Ponyboy questioned, trying his best to switch the topic back._

_"Yeah, Pony. I'll be-ACHOO! I'll be-OW!" Johnny hollered in absolute pain, causing Pony, Steve, Two-Bit, and Kitten to each jump a bit, and each of them began tearing up on the inside, hating how they couldn't see or hear what was happening on the other side of the phone themselves._

_"Johnny?! Johnny Cade?! Johnathan?! Johnnycake?!" Ponyboy panicked out. However, Johnny wouldn't reply. All he got was the sound of Johnny crying softly, and then, he could hear the phone being picked up by somebody else._

_"I told that worthless piece of - to shut the - up with all of that - sneezing..." the new voice murmured, thinking that they couldn't be heard, but they were wrong. Pony's, Kitten's, Two-Bit's, and Steve's eyes each went huge again, knowing exactly that the new voice over the other side of the line was Mrs. Cade, and she must've hit Johnny for sneezing again, but it wasn't his fault. He couldn't help being ill with a cold._

_Mrs. Cade rose the phone slowly up to her ear, breathing in and out heavily for a couple of seconds, before she said the exact words with her dark and angry voice, "Johnathan has to go now. The useless runt has to stay home from a ridiculous cold. Good-bye."_

Kitten laid back against the lockers, now feeling absolute pain, worry, fear, nervousness, and guilt all in one. The corners of her eyes slimly began to water as she looked down at her worn out sneakers and sighed. She thought that she should've talked Steve, Two-Bit, and Ponyboy into going over to Johnny's house before heading off to school to have him come over to the Curtis's to stay, and have Dallas take care of him while he babysat Jocelyn, and Darry and Sodapop would just go to work. However, if Darry heard that his youngest kid brother wasn't at school, he would've had his head glued on the wall.

"Kit-Cat...are you alright?" Sondra asked, and right after she asked that question, Kitten instantly snapped out of it, tuning herself back into the present.

"...Yeah, Baby. I'm fine...just nervous 'bout Johnnycake. His cold really is too bad for him." Kitten sighed.

"But...everybody gets sick...he can't be _that _serious...can't he?" Sondra nervously gulped. Kitten stuck her free hand into her worn out jeans pocket and shrugged her shoulders, still pouting regretfully, right before she took her free hand out of her pocket, and she used used it to slam her locker shut.

"Yes, it's true that everyone gets ill, but Johnny rarely gets sick...anyway, I'm sure he'll be fine...I got to get to first period. I'll see you later, Baby." Kitten said.

Sondra was now completely fearful and nervous about hearing the news that poor Johnny was sick that she hesitated before slowly waving her farewell with her free hand, while she secretly took down a gulp to help clear her throat from her nervousness and fear about her best greaser pal. Kitten didn't say anything after that. She just did a small, simple wave back with her free hand, then walked off down the wall, heading off to her first period class without taking a single look back. Nevertheless, you could still hear her voice starting to curse and call these boys who were whistling and calling out some flirty words at her every word in the book, not giving a crap if any adult heard her or anything.

However with Sondra, she knew for a hardcore fact as she rested herself against the lockers on her side that she wouldn't be able to concentrate one bit on her homework, class work, or studies because all that she had on her mind right then and there was Johnny, and nothing but Johnny. Johnny was now one of the most important people in Sondra's whole life, just like Iris was, as well as her mini 'gang', and the Curtis's greasers gang, including Dallas, even though he hated her guts and she completely feared him. Nevertheless, Sondra couldn't get Johnny off from her mind, and all she knew at that time was that she knew that she _had _to see him. Since he had a cold, he must've been at his house, and Sondra knew exactly where he lived.

"I...I got to go see him!" Sondra blurted out to herself in her mind.

The eldest female Prescott didn't want to waste another second. She quickly bashed back to her locker, as if she was a bolt of lightning. Man, she could tell by some of the facial expressions from other students that she was recieving when she twisted and turned her hanging lock on her locker that they were thinking that she should join the track team or something. Sondra was actually planning on trying out for that when the school holds out the sports try outs, which wasn't far away at all.

Anyway, ditching school was something that Sondra never pictured herself doing in her entire life, considering that she wanted to get great grades and go off to her dream college in the future so she could become a success in her dream career as a writer, but this was Johnny here. He was completely important to her, and he was ill all because of him being ditched up there all by himself in the tree house the night before. Sondra actually blamed herself for that one, even though she was fast asleep and couldn't do anything about it, just like Johnny.

Nevertheless, Sondra just tossed all of her books and other supplies back into her book-bag, right before she quickly just swung it over her shoulder, then slammed her locker shut, fixing the lock perfectly, but quickly at the same time, back on the handle. After that, all Sondra did was bash her way out of the school, pushing and forcing other students out of her way without even using her head there, all because she was in a rush to get to the Cade's house. Good thing that Sondra was a mighty fast and fantastic runner. It was as if she was in a drag-race, but she didn't need the car part to actually be included in the actual race. All she needed was both of her legs to pass the finish line and win without any troubles at all.

Sondra ran and ran, feeling sharp pains start to dig deep into her sides as her ankles started to tense up with different sparks of pain eating alive at her after about ten or so minutes straight of nonstop rapid running. Her heart was racing along with her speed on her own two feet, pumping hot blood through her entire body, acting as if it was a bull going for a red flag faster and faster with every pump that was made. Sondra breathed heavily, in and out, ignoring the pain the best that she could as she kept on running. Nevertheless, her run turned into a fast jog about five or so minutes later. You couldn't blame her for that, though. Sondra Allison Prescott was seriously one heck of an excellent runner one way or thee other.

"I s-seriously need t-to try o-out for t-track..." Sondra told herself between deep and heavy breaths, continuing to run and not giving up one bit on her quick speed.

Finally, all of that rapid speed from that bashing and trashing run and jog paid off, and Sondra brushed her shagged up bangs out of her face, along with some sweat from her forehead. She had finally spotted Johnny's house from the sidewalk that she was now finally meeting after all of that fifteen or so minutes straight of nonstop running and speeding. Quickly, no matter how tired she was, Sondra forced her sore feet to continue to jog at least a tiny bit, at least until she could see the Cade's house better...but after Sondra got the full view...she couldn't believe who she was seeing on the front lawn...Johnny.

There Johnny was, curled up in a ball position as he sat there in the center of the grass of his home's front lawn. His arms were connected around his curled up legs, and his head was bowed down, his face being hidden in his old, worn out jeans fabric. He looked absoluetly froze, shivering from the early morning breeze chilling him from his short sleeved, plain black T-shirt not being such a great supporter of warmth during that season of fall. He didn't have his jean jacket on for a change, and that certainly surprised Sondra, because every time she saw him, he was _always _wearing that dark blue-jeans jacket.

"Johnny! Johnnycake!" Sondra called out, rushing over to the eldest Cade like her life depended on it, as she ignored her sore, pumping legs, and the sharp pains that were starting to eat away at her sides again. The oldest Cade heard Sondra, but he was too nervous and afraid to gaze up at her. He didn't want her to see what happened to him.

"B-Baby?!" Johnny questioned. Sondra fell down, straight on her knees in the grass right in front of Johnny when she finally reached him, and she continued to breath in and out heavily, wiping some sweat from her face while she was at it. Her heart seriously felt like it kept taking leaps to China with each pump it made, and she couldn't stop taking in and letting out deep breaths.

"Johnnycake! Y-Yes it's m-me." Sondra couldn't help herself to stutter a bit from her breathing still going rapidly.

"Shouldn't y-you be i-in school?"

No matter how tired she was, Sondra forced herself to cock an eyebrow, realizing how much sorrow was contained in Johnny's voice, and you could tell that he was sniffling, meaning that he was crying about something...or _someone_.

"I ditched because Kitten told me 'bout how you were sick." Sondra was finally able to speak without her deep breathing interrupting her words.

"I-I'm fine, Baby...s-seriously, I-I-I'm-ACHOO!" Johnny sneezed instead of finishing what he wanted to say, right before he took in a deep, sort of shaky breath, then released it as a sigh.

"You're fine, huh?" Sondra crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. If she was standing, she'd be tapping her foot as well. She knew that Johnny was lying, and he knew that she could tell, because Johnny was a horrible liar, and his sneeze completely gave him away.

"Look, Baby..." Johnny sniffled "i-it's just a little c-cold...nothing m-m-ACHOO! Major..."

"Bless you." Sondra nodded her head from understanding. "But I know that you have a nasty cough, a stuffy nose, sore throat, and sick stomach...I know it's nothin' major, but it's still a cold...shouldn't you be in bed now?"

Johnny didn't respond. All he did was continue hiding his face from any sight and/or view, as he continued to sniffle and tremble in the soft, breezy, chilly morning wind. The eldest Cade knew that his mother had forced him to go outside by yanking him out there by his hair, then locking him out, cursing and hollering away like there was no tomorrow...and all of it was because he couldn't help himself to sneeze over and over again from his ridiculous cold.

"...You shouldn't be ditchin' for me...I'm r-really f-fine, and-AH-AH-ACHOO!" Johnny sneezed again, right before he locked his hands gently around his throat, remaining to keep his face hidden in his jeans fabric when doing so. "Ow! That one really hurt!" Johnny complained, but you really couldn't blame him at all. After that last sneeze, it felt like millions of pins and needles had stabbed the inside of his throat.

"You don't sound fine at all to me, and I don't care if I'm ditching. This is my only day in my entire life that I haven't ever attended school, so it's not a big deal. My grades will still remain the same. You're more important to me, and-" Sondra stopped herself to catch her breath, but she also stopped to realize that Johnny still wasn't looking up to see her.

"...And, what, Baby?" Johnny coughed a bit.

"Johnnycake...why won't you look at me?" Sondra questioned.

Johnny hesitated, but after about ten or so seconds of silence after Sondra's question, he spoke the exact words, "Why do you want me to look at you?"

Sondra crossed her arms over her chest again. "Maybe because I want to see your precious, puppy-dog, black eyes." Sondra joked, her voice sweet and filled with chuckles. She was relieved when she heard Johnny chuckle a bit himself towards what she just said, even though he was still keeping his face hidden, but his cute snickers died away a few seconds later, and his nasty coughs started taking their place.

"Trust me...you don't want to see my face." Johnny sighed.

"Of course I do, Johnnycake!" Sondra objected, but she was making sure that her voice wasn't sounding rude or demanding one bit. Luckily, it wasn't. It was only going off with plead, and if there was one thing Johnny Cade had a hard time objecting to, it was a girl using a pleading voice on him. Cassidy did it all the time when she needed him to agree to something that she wanted to do.

"No...you don't." Johnny connected his arms back around his curled up legs, still remaining to keep his face hidden in his worn out jeans fabric.

"Yes, I do! Come on, Johnny, let me see your precious, puppy-dog, black eyes." Sondra giggled as she moved herself over to Johnny's side, and she was relieved once more to hear the sixteen-year-old greaser starting to snicker along with what she said about his eyes again. Sondra attempted to see Johnny's face from where she now was sitting at his side, but when she couldn't, and she could tell that Johnny wouldn't allow her to see any time soon, she decided to poke his side.

"Ah!" Johnny yelped, followed by some chuckles, even though his face was still not being seen. "Don't do that!"

Sondra smirked, knowing how ticklish the eldest Cade was. "I'll back off if you show me your face." Sondra assured, chuckling deviously with her words as she poked Johnny in his side again, causing him to yelp again.

"Y-You wouldn't!" Johnny snickered and shook his head, remaining to hide his face. Sondra continued to smirk as she started to wiggle her fingers slowly.

"Want a bet?" she chuckled, but without giving Johnny a single chance to reply, she threw herself around him, trapping her arms around his waist as she dug her fingers into his sides, mercilessly tickling away and sending the eldest Cade into hysterics. He couldn't help himself to throw his head back from his jeans as he laughed his handsome, adorable laughter, but he hid his face then behind his hands. Sondra really wanted to know why Johnny wouldn't allow her to see his face, and she really enjoyed hearing his laughter at that time with him being sick, so she kept on tickling him.

"S-S-Stop i-it, Baby!" Johnny pleaded and begged through his laughter, but Sondra only snickered herself and continued her torture on her best greaser friend.

"You know the saying, Johnnycake." Sondra instructed, chuckling with her words from having fun. "Laughter is the best medicine!"

"N-No i-it's n-not!" Johnny objected "i-i-it's the b-best v-v-virus!"

Sondra grinned, both deviously and playfully, as she playfully rolled her eyes, continuing to dig her fingers into Johnny's sides, before moving one hand up to his ribs, and the other to the center of his stomach. She went on dancing her fingers all over Johnny's ribs and stomach, making the trapped Cade laugh more and more, but he still wouldn't remove his hands from covring his face, even though he truly wanted to push Sondra's hands away from him.

"I'll stop if you take your hands away from your face and let me see your face." Sondra offered in a tempting tone, slowing down her tickling a bit to help Johnny catch his breath.

"N-Never!" Johnny snickered as he shook his head back and forth. Sondra smirked again.

"Alright, you asked for it." Sondra's fingers went off again, going back to rapidly tickling the oldest Cade, and sending him back off into his hysrerics. "Ready to give in?" Sondra asked about fifteen or so seconds after she started her second round of tickling Johnny, and she was now pinning him down in the grass, sitting carefully over him to keep him from rolling away or at least getting away in any way.

"A-Alright! I'll s-show y-y-you my f-face! J-Just s-stop i-i-it!" Johnny begged, and right after he finally announced that he gave in, Sondra stopped tickling up and down his sides, but she didn't get off from sitting on top of him just yet, because she didn't want Johnny to attempt getting away from her after he said that he would tell her. Sondra gave the eldest Cade a moment to catch his breath, and after he did so, Sondra heard him sigh.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." Johnny warned, and he sighed one more time, right before he slowly removed his hands from his face. Sondra's eyes shot huge after she realized what the eldest Cade was attempting to hide from her. It was this nasty black, blue, and purple mixture of a bruise there a little below and to the left of his left eye. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either, and it was completely noticeable if you were up close enough.

Johnny's eyes were filled with tears of laughter, which he was now wiping away, and he allowed Sondra to continue resting on top of the upper part of his legs so she could see and study the new bruise that was now printed on his face.

"Oh my god!" Sondra gasped "how'd you get that bruise, Johnnycake?!"

Johnny tensed up, but he wouldn't allow any of his nervousness to show on the outside, because he knew that Sondra didn't know that he and his kid sisters were abused, and that's the way he wanted it to stay, because he didn't want Sondra to worry and/or fear about him or his little sisters like the gang already does constantly.

"I, um...well, I was playin' rough with my kid sisters and things went bad." Johnny told Sondra, but he knew that the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old female Regular wouldn't have that for an answer.

Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow. "Forgive me for asking, Johnnycake, but how on earth can you play it rough with a child and a baby?"

"...You'd be surprised when you're a greaser."

Johnny felt like he was about to punch himself over the head for giving something like _that _for his verbal response towards Sondra's question. Nevertheless, Sondra didn't want to pressure Johnny into admitting anything that he didn't want to confess, since she had just made him show her his face to realize this new, sudden, supicious injury that was showing off on his tan skin was something that he was trying to keep hidden from her. Sondra knew something about that new bruise on Johnny's face was from something that didn't involve playing rough or anything like that, but she didn't want to force him to tell her something to make him feel uncomfortable or anything like that.

"Alright then..." Sondra shrugged her shoulders, allowing herself to change the subject right then and there, even though Johnny's sudden, new bruise was now going to be driving her nuts with finding out about how he truly got that. "Either way, Johnny, bein' outside this early in the morning without a jacket, and with you havin' a cold toppin' it all off, none of this is safe."

"What are you saying, Baby?" Johnny coughed a bit into his arm after speaking his question.

"_I'm saying _for you to come with me. It's too freezing to just be here like this, chilling to death with no jacket or anythin' for warmth, and you already have a cold." Sondra informed as she stood up from the ground and placed her hands on her skinny hips. She had a real nice built body for her age.

"Go with you where?" Johnny, half curiously and half concerndly, asked.

Sondra's eyes grew big a little as she hesitated, thinking heavily about Johnny's question. That was a good question, Sondra thought to herself. Well, it was obvious that she and Johnny just couldn't stay there, and there's no way in heck that she could take him back to her place, because her folks were most likely getting super high and rip-roaring drunk, and if they found out she ditched school, they would most likely kill her, especially if they were going off at each other yet again. Sondra knew also that she couldn't take Johnny to Charlie's house, nor Rebecca's, or anybody's house from any of the members who were in her mini 'gang', because they each thought that she was at school, and if they knew she ditched just because she heard that Johnny was ill, she'd be earnin' one heck of many, individual lectures. So...since Sondra knew that she couldn't take Johnny to any of _those _places, there was only one more free area that she knew would work for her to take Johnny and take care of him there.

"Come on, Johnny. We can go to the tree house. I'll take care of you there." Sondra told the eldest Cade, offering down one of her hands for him to take, but Johnny was hesitant, still sitting where he was there in the center of the lawn as he gazed up at the oldest female Prescott.

"...You shouldn't be ditchin' school because of-ACHOO! Me..." Johnny sighed after sneezing yet again. Nevertheless, Sondra shook her head back and forth, and to Johnny's surprise, she actually grinned down at him, meaning that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Eh," Sondra shrugged her shoulders, still smiling beautifully and widely while doing so. "I could use a day off, anyway. Besides, you're more important to me then some grades that won't even change due to one day of being absent."

Johnny hesitated a bit more, but with Sondra's hand still being offered down to him, and knowing for a fact that he meant something huge to her, the oldest Cade couldn't help himself to grin his adorable smile, and he slowly and shyly reached out one of his hands. His and Sondra's fingers locked around each other after their hands finally met, and for a second, Johnny's and Sondra's eyes met, as well as their smiles did, too, before Sondra finally helped Johnny up from the ground. The eldest Cade dusted himself off as Sondra swung her book-bag back over her shoulder.

"What do you think your temperature is?" Sondra asked.

Johnny shrugged his shoulders as he stuffed his hands into his worn out jeans pockets. "I don't know, but it must be h-h-h-ACHOO! High..."

"Bless you." Sondra sighed, desperately wishing on the inside that she could trade places with Johnny so he wouldn't be ill with a ridiculous cold. He was too kind and generous of a young lad to deserve something stupid like that. And man, it was extremely rare to find a teenager like Johnny Cade, who actually is kind and generous, including the fact that he was a greaser. Suddenly then, Sondra formed a smirk, knowing something that would help Johnny cheer up at least a tiny bit.

"Hey, Johnny." Sondra snickered "race you to the tree house! Just follow the red dirt road when we meet the woods!"

"Hey, no fair!" Johnny objected, even though he was chuckling himself, knowing for a fact how Sondra knew him so, so well. Nevertheless, Sondra took off with her rapidly fast speed down the sidewalk, laughing away at Johnny's three little words towards her offer of a race to the tree house. Johnny then quickly bolted off, for he was so, so fast as well, and the two teenagers were sooner side by side, smiling and laughing with each other and at each other as they playfully pushed and nudged each other side to side.

"You know I can't resist a race!" Johnny laughed as he nudged Sondra over yet again, but she just came bouncing back, directly rushing by his side, and she playfilly pushed him again, making the two of them laugh and laugh even more, enjoying the moment that they were in. Man, Sondra thought the night before at the greasers only party was a huge moment for her to be free, but turns out, she just realized that if she was hanging out with Johnny, that was enough to make her feel free and alive.

"Then you'd best hurry up _if _you believe you can beat me!" Sondra laughed right back.

"Oh, I don't believe! I _know _I'll beat you!" Johnny informed, trying his best to hold back his laughter now so he could sound serious, but to him, it was completely difficult to maintain his laughter when he was with Sondra. She actually made him feel protected and cared for when the gang was busy doing other stuff, and his folks were nothin' but abusers who drank and smoked their entire lives away 24/7.

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

The two teens then stopped their playful arguing as they kept on running. Johnny must've really cared about Sondra, because when she had tripped over a thick broken off tree branch in the woods after the two of them had made it five or so minutes into running down the red dirt road, Johnny instantly wrapped his arms around Sondra's waist and he hauled her back up until she was perfectly balanced. After that, the two of them were off racing and laughing again, being careful and cautious now of the rocks and twigs that covered the ground in the woods.

Nevertheless, it was a tie when Sondra and Johnny had both arrived to the tree house, and right after they both climbed up and entered it, Johnny rested himself down in a dusty tea-party table chair, breathing heavily as his face beated red, and he wiped some sweat off from underneath his long, heavily greased, jet-black bangs. Sondra, on the other hand, breathed in and out heavily as well, but she closed the two windows of the tree house so the early mornings chilly and beezy wind wouldn't make her and Johnny chill even more.

"You're a great runner, just like Ponyboy is." Johnny complimented with a grin on his face. "You should go out for track."

Sondra smiled after she digested Johnny's words, and she playfully rolled her eyes as she fetched a blanket that was extremely warm and cozy out from a small trunk that was there in one of the corners of the tree house, which Sondra completely forgot about, because she and Johnny could've used that the night before. Johnny saw the irony in that when he witnessed Sondra gather up the blanket, but he didn't bother to say anything about it. He actually liked how he was able to hold Sondra close to him that night before, but the eldest Cade thought that he'd keep that thought to himself.

"I get that a lot." Sondra giggled as she also snatched out the first-aid kit that was still where it was in one of the cabinets that was built into the tree house. "I'm planning to try out for track when the try outs are held." Sondra shared.

Johnny admiringly nodded his head with that smile of his still upon his face. "You should. You're one of thee best runners I've ever seen."

"Thanks, Johnny." Sondra thanked "back at ya, might I add."

Johnny only continued to grin after he took in and digested Sondra's words, and he watched as Sondra rested the first-aid kit down on the dusty, old tea-party table, clicking open the two silver locks and opening it up to reveal the rags, liquid medicines, bandages, and whatnot. Before taking anything out from inside the first-aid kit, she caringly and warmingly wrapped the warm and cozy blanket around Johnny, treating him more like a six-year-old than a sixteen-year-old, which she secretly liked doing. The skin upon Johnny's face started to feel warm underneath from his blood feeling like it was warmingly starting to heat up all the sudden, and his admiring smile turned into a shy grin towards Sondra, who smiled back in a shy manner now, too. Her face was also turning into a bright, bright shade of red for some reason that she, nor Johnny, understood why.

"Okay, Johnnycake. I'm goin' to start by takin' your temperature, alright?" Sondra asked. Johnny nodded his head after taking a few seconds to think about what Sondra just told him, and he watched as Sondra reached into the first-aid kit and pulled out a thermometer. Her smile was still upon her face as she kindly instructed Johnny to open his mouth, which he did without needing to be told twice, and right after he felt the thermometer get put inside his mouth, he closed it again. It only took about ten or so seconds until Sondra carefully and caringly slipped the thermometer back out from Johnny's mouth. A pout tugged on her lips as she sighed at the result of Johnny's temperature.

"104 degrees...that's quite a fever you have there, Johnny." Sondra sighed with shame as she wiped the thermometer off with some of this liquid medicine and a rag, before settling it back down into the first-aid kit. Nervously, Johnny clenched the blanket tighter and closer around his body, and he pouted as he sighed himself, resting his eyes shut when doing so. To Johnny's surprise though, even though he had a fever, he felt Sondra's hand gently touch his forehead, right before she gently danced his bangs away from resting in front of his eyes a bit with her fingers. Johnny continued to keep his eyes shut until he heard Sondra's voice ask him to open them back up so she could see how his eyes looked. The exact second Johnny slowly opened his eyes back up, his and Sondra's were instantly meeting, the back of her hand still gently feeling his forehead.

"...Your eyes are still nice lookin', Johnnycake." Sondra complimented. Johnny's face turned back to that shade of a bright, bright red as a smile flashed across his face.

"...Thanks, Baby. Yours are pretty tuff like always, too." Johnny chuckled a bit, and Sondra instantly grinned herself. Nevertheless, before the two teenagers could see it coming, they were dead quiet, lost in each others eyes as Sondra gently took her hand away from Johnny's forehead. Sondra and Johnny both continued to stare at each other, listening quietly to the breeze beautifully whistle to what was like a song as the birds began to chirp along outside.

The leaves gently blew and rattled together to the little song, and Sondra and Johnny slowly began leaning into each other, their eyes now closed in dreaming manners, and their lips looking like they were puckering out or something like that, but before anything that was about to happen could actually happen, Johnny quickly backed up in the old tea-party chair that he was sitting in, reopening his eyes when doing so. Sondra then opened her eyes again, and she gazed at Johnny, who was just staring right back at her, the two of their faces beating a bright, bright shade of red.

"Baby, you'd best be careful 'round me. I don't want to get you sick." Johnny cautiously warned as he embarrassedly scratched the back of his neck.

Sondra crossed one of her arms over her stomach as she nodded her head, saying the exact three words, "I dig that.", but her eyes were giving off the message that Johnny didn't have anything to worry about with her. The eldest Cade then watched as Sondra took out one of the small bottles of liquid medicine from the first-aid kit, and she twisted off the cap. The medicines strong scent made Johnny's nose crinkle, but it also danced and tickled the inside.

"AH-AH-ACHOO!" Johnny sneezed, right before he watched Sondra take out a few boxes of tissues from inside one of the other cabinets of the tree house, then rest them down on the old tea-party table beside the first-aid kit, her other hand still holding the now opened bottle of liquid medicine.

"Bless you, Johnny." Sondra said as she carefully concentrated on the liquid medicine in the bottle that she was holding as she tilted it over, and watched carefully as the liquid began to pour into its cap. She was measuring it carefully, waiting for it to reach the small red line that was printed on the bottles cap so she could give it to Johnny to take.

"Thank you, Baby." Johnny thanked, pulling out one of the tissues and blowing his nose into it. Afterwards, he simply tossed it away into the trashcan that Sondra had also fetched from one of the other corners of the tree house for him and placed it by the seat that he was sitting in so he wouldn't have to keep getting up and down just to throw away tissues.

"Hey, do you want to be a doctor or a nurse or somethin' like that when you get older?" Johnny asked.

Sondra made a certain look towards Johnny's question as she handed Johnny the medicine bottles cap that was now filled with the liquid medicine up to its red line for him to take.

"No, I actually want to be a writer." Sondra shared.

"An author?" Johnny asked "so does Ponyboy and Kitten!"

Sondra grinned after hearing that. Not many teenagers really care to pick up books and actually read them instead of studying the pictures or just flipping page to page without any cares. Sondra knew now that she wasn't the only one who was actually different from other teens when it came to reading and writing. Nobody in her mini 'gang' adored reading or writing either. Well, except Rebecca, but she didn't dig it as much as Sondra. Nobody else in Sondra's mini 'gang' could read and/or write to save their lives.

"Really? That's tuff! What do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny?" Sondra asked "and take that medicine, would ya?"

Johnny pouted a little as he shrugged his shoulders. "I never really put any thought into what I wanted to be yet, so I'm afraid I can't tell you an answer to that question. And this medicine smells nasty!"

"Johnnycake, it might smell bad, and I'm not goin' to lie to you." Sondra held her hands up to her shoulders in a defending way. "It tastes terrible, too, but it heals extremely great. Just pretend it's a shot and take it."

"I don't drink." Johnny informed.

"Pretend it's a shot of Coke or somethin' else that you enjoy then! Just jug it down in one go, okay?" Sondra pleaded "please? For me?"

Johnny gazed at how Sondra was giving him a puppy-dog look, and the way she did her eyes seriously made him feel like her was about to melt. He then looked down at the medicine and sighed, right before he just rose the cap up to his lips. Sondra smiled beautifully and full of relief when Johnny quickly took the medicine, and after he swallowed it, Sondra gently patted his back as he coughed and gagged. Well, she _did _say that the medicine tasted terrible.

"You did good there, Johnnycake." Sondra complimented, taking the cap back from Johnny and twisting it back onto its container, right before she gently placed it back down into the first-aid kit. She then traded the bottle of liquid medicine that she had for Johnny to take for a clean, new rag.

Johnny, who was busy blowing into a new tissue, while he continued to hack and cough a bit more, due to the terrible taste of that liquid medicine still running all over, dancing away on his tongue, watched as Sondra folded up the rag in a karate like manner. You know, the way people in karate wear those headwear things around their foreheads when fighting or just are in training? Well, Sondra was folding the rag up for it to be something like that, before she told Johnny she'd be right back, and she left the tree house.

Sondra had skipped over to the river, where the beautiful, crystal-clear water was flowing and splashing along, and the very early morning sunlight that was starting to come over the horizon dazzled off, gleaming on the water. Sondra knelt down on some of the silver rocks and whistled a beautiful tune to herself as she dipped the rag into the rivers clean water, then squeezed it, ignoring how the breeze made her fingers feel numb after they met the water, then came back out. Sondra continued to dunk and squeeze out the water from the rag a few times, but finally, she skipped back along the red dirt road, making it back to the tree house.

"Here, Johnny. Keep this on your head. I know it might give you a bit of a headache, but it'll help your fever go down." Sondra instructed, and Johnny nodded with complete understanding towards her instructions, as he took the damp rag from her, then placed it on his forehead, allowing Sondra to brush his bangs out of his face and gently tilt his head back when doing so.

"I'm goin' to take good care of you today, Johnny." Sondra assured, and she watched as Johnny smiled up at her.

"...You already are." he promised, knowing for a fact that it would be a good day with Sondra.

**A/N: Seems like a nice endin' to this chapter, huh? Well, remember that this was only part 1! Part 2 will contain a mixture of drama somewhat in the ending! Dun, dun, duuuuuuunnnnnn! Anyway, I hope yawl enjoyed this chapter, and please review if yawl want more chapters. Thanks, everyone! :D :D :D :D**


	25. Lies

**A/N: I'm soooo sorry I took so long to update, but I'm now out of school, and I'll be trying to update faster!**

**Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 25, and _pretty please review_! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, _please_! Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 25 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

_Chapter 25_

Awhile later, during some time around noon, Sondra had opened the two windows to the tree house again, because the sun was now shining like a golden ray to heaven in the clear blue sky with only a few puffy white clouds flowing through the breeze high above. The birds were still singing along with the cool breeze, which wasn't blowing as much anymore, which is why Sondra opened the two windows in the tree house again. It was beautiful that day.

Johnny's coughing and sneezing had both started going down, and he didn't need to keep that damp rag resting on top of his forehead anymore. And when he swallowed, his throat didn't hurt as much, plus his stomach didn't have the eager feeling to make him want to turn away to go cry from huge, needle and pin like pains stabbing away on the inside of his flesh, nor give the sixteen-year-old any feeling of throwing up. All throughout most of the time in the tree house, Sondra and Johnny were both resting on their backs, flat on the floor, Johnny's body resting east while Sondra's was laying west, their heads only a few inches away from each other. For many hours, Sondra and Johnny had both been enjoying each others voices with their talking and laughs. Man, the gang would certainly be shocked, because it was extremely rare for anybody to get Johnny Cade to laugh _that much _in just a single day.

Sondra had just finished reading _Gone With The Wind _for her and Johnny both, considering that it was their favorite book, and not to mention that Sondra had it packed away in her book-bag. The two of them were enjoying each others conversations and different worded opinions on the book, instead of just agreeing with every word the other spoke. No matter what though, Sondra and Johnny both loved the book, and they were certainly stunned when they found out that both of them loved the Southern gentlemen. Sondra just grew more stunned when Johnny shared that he thought Dally was gallant, and when Sondra dared to ask why, Johnny just explained everything that he did with Ponyboy when they were hiding away in that old, abandoned church that was now nothing but piles of ash when they ran away after the stabbing with Bob. Sondra still couldn't believe it though, so all she did then was keep her thoughts to herself about Dallas being labeled gallant by the eldest Cade.

"How is it like being the oldest child, Johnnycake?" Sondra questioned "I mean, I hope you don't mind me by asking, but are your sisters a hand full?"

To Sondra's surprise, she actually heard Johnny chuckling after he took in what she just said. That must've meant that he was smiling, and knowing that just made a grin tug up on Sondra's own lips.

"Sometimes they are, but believe it or not, sometimes I feel that Jocelyn behaves a lot more than Cassidy!" Johnny laughed at his own words. That was actually true. Like any typical greaser that was so, so close to becoming a teenager, Cassidy always gave Johnny puppy dog like eyes as she quivered her bottom lip when she wanted to do something, but Johnny would tell her no until she actually made that face. That look always made Johnny melt in Cassidy's hands and wrap around her finger, which he secretly liked once in awhile, because he got to show her how much he loved her.

Sondra grinned and couldn't resist chuckling along with Johnny a bit there. At that moment with the sibling talk, Sondra wished that she could tell Johnny that since Iris was the younger one, she'd be the most hand full, but Sondra knew if she told Johnny that, she'd be lying greatly. Since Iris was blind, her life actually was difficult, but with herself and her own senses. Her life with others was actually pretty much the same, except she couldn't see what any of the people, places, or things around her looked like. Nevertheless, Iris still had a super sense of smell, and not to mention excellent hearing. However, her sense of touch was still a bit rusty.

"Well, whether _you _believe me or not, I'm more of a hand full than Iris is." Sondra admitted, giggling a bit with her words, as her face stained to a bright, bright red of some friendly embarrassment.

Johnny hesitated, smirking, waiting a few silent seconds to think about what Sondra just told him, before he released the sarcastic toned words from his mouth, "Noooo, really?"

Sondra's mouth gaped open in a playful manner after she heard Johnny's sarcasm, but before she could object to it with a playful "Hey!" or something like that, Johnny reached up to her and began tickling her, sending her into such adorable and precious little hysterics.

"Aww! Is the wittle twouble maker just a tad bit twicklish?" Johnny playfully teased, not being able to help himself to laugh along with Sondra from having such a fun time with her that day, including when he was using a baby voice just to fit in with the playful teasing.

"C-C-Cut it out! J-J-Johnny! That's n-not f-f-funny!" Sondra laughed and laughed, pleading and begging for mercy the best she could when recieving the feather-like touches of Johnny's fingers dancing over her flesh. Johnny did finally stop...about two minutes later when tears of laughter finally began bursting out of Sondra's eyes like Niagra Falls.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Johnny joked, still snickering with his words as he watched Sondra lay there, one of her arms resting over her stomach while she used her other hand to wipe away as many of her tears of laughter from her red face and tearful eyes the best she could as she breathed in and out rapidly to catch her breath.

"T-That...wasn't..f-funny..." Sondra huffed and puffed, panting as she took her time to catch her breath, still giggling a bit from suffering the feather-like tickles from Johnny, who was still smirking with pride, and his eyes were shining off satisfaction for a change. His black eyes were usually swimming with nothing but complete sorrow, begs, and pleads.

"I thought it was." Johnny snickered. Sondra grinned, getting ready to string some words together so she could fire them back, but quickly, knowing what was about to come, Johnny opened his mouth and changed the topic with the exact words, "Say, Baby...what is your folks like? You never seem to talk 'bout them."

Sondra's eyes suddenly shot huge as her mouth gaped open a little, now feeling nothing but complete fear and nervousness swarming around and flooding all inside her. She seriously wished that Johnny haden't brought up her folks to talk about.

"Well...what about _your _parents, Johnny? You never talk about yours either." Sondra informed.

Johnny hesitated, now secretly hiding a strong and sorrow filled pout, until he was able to choke out the words that were jammed in his throat, "I asked you first, Baby."

Sondra didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell Johnny the truth about her parents being abusive, Dominic being nothing but a bitter drunk and Spring being a drug taker of at least fifthy new drugs each and every single day. God only knew what would happen if she told Johnny the truth. Nobody in all of Tulsa who actually knew Sondra and Iris, those people only being Sondra's mini 'gang' and the Curtis greasers gang, knew the truth about their abusive folks, and it was obvious that if Sondra told Johnny, she could tell that he would flip...but only if she knew that his life was no different at all from hers at home.

"Well...um...my folks are...hard to explain in just one word, considering they're so great..." Sondra already began feeling nothing but absolute guilt already starting to flood all over her on the inside, but whatever it took to keep Johnny from finding out the truth, she'd do exactly that. Sondra could tell that it was working, because Johnny was already starting to slimly grin all over again.

"Then don't explain 'em in just one single word...tell me all about them." Johnny kindly, softly, and innocently instructed.

Oh, great, Sondra thought sarcastically to herself whence she caught the new words that came out of Johnny's mouth. Telling Johnny _all _about them...well...her mother was a freaky drug addict that bought God knows how many different types of drugs and took at least one of each every two hours or so, and her father was nothing but a lazy drunk who drank at least thirty bottles of beer each day. Her fathers harsh eyes followed her like a painting, making her feel extremely uncomfortable and unwanted...until he came into her bedroom on Saturday nights when her mom was out at the bar...and he started bothering her in sexual manners. As for Sondra's mother, she kept smacking and kicking her around, whipping her with a leather belt from time to time, and cursing away with such foul language that it made Sondra heavily turn red without even needing to be physically harmed.

Nevertheless, at that moment that she was in, Sondra knew completely that she couldn't speak any single word of that to Johnny. She didn't want him to lose any sleep over her or go through punishments during school hours from not paying any attention to anything that was being said and/or done around him. If only she knew that Johnny already went through that all at certain times because of his own home life.

"...My parents are amazing...being Regulars and all, we hardly step out of the house, but my mom, being the stay-at-home parent she is, finds her way around with going out back to water the flowers and check our plants in our garden during the hot seasons...my mom is beautiful...I look exactly like her, but she has longer hair that's a bit darker blonde...ya know...she tells me that my adorable laugh and wonderful smile is all my own..." Sondra sighed in such a happy tone. She seemed fine on the outside, but on the inside, her heart was breaking over two things.

One, she was lying to such a sweet and caring soul, as known as Johnny. And two, Sondra was realizing that the way she was describing her mother..._that _was the mom of her dreams she had in mind and always wanted, and she wished every day and every night that her mother would change into that dream mom...but she never does. She always remains being that sick, twisted, evil, heartless, stone-minded lady who has nothing better to do in her life but smoke, drink, and argue with her husband almost 24/7.

"Adorable laugh...wonderful smile..." Johnny muttered the four words to himself, smiling that big, handsome, rare grin of his as he began to feel hot all the sudden, and his innocent black eyes were glimmering off nothing but happiness and satisfaction in what he was hearing.

"Excuse me?" Sondra asked, knowing that Johnny had said something, but she didn't know what.

Johnny's eyes grew wide as his smile quickly vanished off from his face, and he quickly took down a sudden baseball-sized lump that was resting in his throat. He realized that Sondra had heard him speaking to himself, quoting how she said what her dream mother shared about her adorable laughter and wonderful grin was all her own.

"Well...um...uh...I was just referring to your...laugh and smile..." Johnny nervously stuttered the words out, hoping to death that didn't make him sound creepy or anything like that. Luckily, he didn't sound anything like that at all in Sondra's mind...but it certainly made her flash to a light, light shade of red because she certainly wasn't expecting Johnny to say something like that to her.

Shyly, Sondra formed a nervous pout-like look upon her face as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her now red stained ear. The only thing that was on her mind then was what could possibly be in Johnny's head all the sudden that involved all about her smile and laugh.

"W-What's wrong with them?" Sondra gulped.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Johnny asked, his voice now full of nothing but absolute concern and confusion.

"You said you were referring to my laugh and smile, right?" Sondra questioned. Johnny nodded his head, right before he rested both of his hands behind his head so he could feel more comfortable when listening to Sondra as the two of them laid there on the tree house floor.

"...Well...referring to my laugh and smile...is that a good thing?"

Silence grew between the two teenagers, Sondra feeling more and more nervous with each quiet second that past as her heart beat wildly and crazily in her chest. She was only thinking two things at that moment, Johnny must've thought that she was insane, and she made a fool out of herself big time by asking that ridiculous question.

Johnny, on the other hand, was only being quiet because he needed some time to digest Sondra's words, considering he didn't understand why she was asking him a question like _that_. In Johnny's mind, her laugh was magical and beautiful...and her smile was absoluetly tuff...sweet and innocent...also, her eyes might've been pale blue, but they were golden, as in goldenly gorgeous to the oldest Cade...and her personality...man, Johnny loved that the most about her, because it was on her inside, and not shown on her out. Sondra might've been a Regular, but she actually loved the Greasers more than the Socs, and her label didn't stop her from being who she truly wants to be. She's just a quiet and shy girl who dreams and tries to be peaceful beyond belief, and she can certainly use her head, especially towards 'em Socs. The personality... Johnny always craved knowing even more of that with every moment that past between him and Sondra.

It was then Johnny's turn to change all the sudden to the color of a light, light red, as he started to feel all warm and fuzzy inside for some reason he just didn't understand, and with Sondra resting in his mind, a small, cute grin spread across his face.

"...It's an excellent thing." Johnny promised "...now...your mom sounds perfect...but what about your dad?"

Sondra couldn't believe it...she seriously couldn't choke a single word out after she heard what Johnny said about her smile and laugh both being excellent...a small smile had tugged up upon her mouth as she gently bit down on her bottom lip, and that look of flatter glowed within her eyes as she continued to digest Johnny's words over and over again. However, when he said that her mom sounded perfect, guilt instantly drained all over and within the fourteen-year-old Regular, because she was now realizing that Johnny was falling for her lying, which she didn't adore one bit, but she knew she'd be doing anything to keep her true abusive, sick, and twisted folks a painful secret. At that moment, Sondra could only think one thing...it was regretfully time to lie more, but about her father this time.

"_My father is like vodka and anorexia mixed together...deadly and somethin' you never want to mess with..._" Sondra thought to herself when she started heavily thinking about Dominic for the first time in awhile. Nevertheless, she completely knew that she couldn't tell Johnny _that_. He already thought that her mother was perfect...how perfect would she be then if he knew the truth about Dominic being nothing but a bitter drunk who drank everything from beer, to wine, to vodka, etc.

"My father is handsome...he's the hard worker in the house...workin' at his job of holdin' together his team and whatnot with drilling wells...he's very golden-hearted and amazing...the best dad anybody could ever ask for." Sondra couldn't lie about her folks anymore. That was the best that she could get out of her own self on the second time around, because she absoluetly hated lying to Johnny.

Johnny's grin grew more satisfied as he shrugged only once. "Tuff enough." he quietly spoke after a short pause between him and Sondra.

"Well, what 'bout _you_, Johnnycake? What are your parents like?" Sondra questioned, her voice gentle and calm instead of rude and demanding, considering she _never _wanted to argue or anything like that with such an amazing friend like Johnny.

Johnny froze, his eyes now wide and heart beginning pound so rapid in his chest that it felt like it was about to shatter each of his bones. He knew what he had to do...it was his turn to lie...but he didn't know if he could handle it when talking to Sondra...could he?

**A/N: This chapter was meant to be longer, but I thought since it's been awhile since I updated (sooooo sorry 'bout that once again!), I'll cut this chapter into 2 different parts. The next chapter will end in something hard to believe...well, for some people, that is. Please review, and I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	26. Frightening Dream or Heavenly Nightmare?

**A/N: ****Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 26, and _pretty please review_! I need the reviews to keep my writing spirit, _please_! Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 26 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

_Chapter 26_

"You can rest your head on my shoulder if you want." Johnny offered. He didn't want to lie about his parents, especially to Sondra, a girl who was different and didn't give a hang about how he was a Greaser while she was a Regular. She was actually golden and caring, actually being kind and loving towards the Greasers and kicking butt at the Socs the best that she could. Now _that _was one heck of a tuff girl according to Johnny Cade. He loved having Sondra as a true friend so, so much, and the last thing Johnny ever pictured doing a friend next to backstabbing them was actually opening his mouth and saying crap that wasn't true, causing him to feel guilty later on.

"Thanks, Johnnycake." Sondra thanked, trying her best to hold back a sudden yawn as she slowly moved her way over to Johnny, who was now sitting and leaning back against the tree house wooden wall. Sondra didn't know why, and neither did Johnny, but out of no where, right after Sondra lied about her parents actually being amazing and awesome, she began feeling tired. Nonetheless, Sondra didn't think anything of it. She just wanted to rest her eyes. So, she sat herself down next to Johnny, resting her head on his shoulder as she dreamily closed her pale blue eyes. Not long after that, Sondra could feel the warmth of one of Johnny's arms being wrapped around her, holding her close as she soothingly breathed in and out.

"You feeling alright?" Johnny asked, truly feeling nervous on the inside if he had gotten Sondra sick after she ditched school to take care of him and be with him after he caught his terrible cold. Nevertheless, the eldest Cade's nervousness faded away instantly when he heard Sondra mumble out to him tiredly, "I'm fine, Johnny...I'm just tired."

"Well, you can rest as long as you want. You deserve it." Johnny grinned as he began stroking Sondra's golden blonde locks with the hand that he was using to hold Sondra close to his side. Sondra didn't say anything back. She was suddenly too tired to do so. It was as if the whole universe around her just washed away, and now, it was just her and Johnny with no worries or issues at all to fear or get nervous of. In Johnny's eyes, it looked just about that way suddenly to him, but he didn't understand why.

Johnny stared at Sondra, watching her rest peacefully. His absuive parents were heavily on his mind, along with the facts that he was a terrible liar and that he didn't want to lie to Sondra ever, but at that moment, just looking at Sondra resting like an angel made Johnny's face begin to feel warm, and a small grin twitched at the edges of his mouth as he continuted to hold Sondra close to his side and stroke her hair, soothing and relaxing her more and more with each second that past.

Looks like I won't have to lie at all, Johnny thought to himself, still smiling a bit as he looked at Sondra, and he began to question why he began feeling his heart begin to race in his chest in such a warm and tender way for a change. He didn't understand it. Nevertheless, either way, it felt quite nice, and Johnny thought he could rest his eyes, too.

"Baby?" Johnny whispered, holding back a yawn of his the best he could, but he was failing at it. Sondra didn't answer. "Baby?" Johnny quietly repeated himself, forcing himself to open his eyes to notice the fourteen-year-old girl was now out like a light, her head still resting on his shoulder with her eyes dreamily shut, and she was breathing in and out soothingly, meaning that she was in a peaceful sleep.

She certainly looked pretty, even if she was asleep. Johnny grinned tiredly, right before he rested his eyes shut again. He instantly fell asleep himself, too, that cute, tired grin remaining plastered on his face with his arm still around Sondra's shoulder, holding her close.

Both of the teenagers were sleeping so peacefully, relaxing in each others arms. Nevertheless, Sondra had just started dreaming such a shocking dream...but at the same time, it was kind of nice, but yet, something to be kind of concerned over.

_The fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old female Regular laid there in an open green field, creeping her sparkling, pale blue eyes open to recieve a bit of a blurry scene of the glorious blue sky that had a few white and fluffy clouds rolling by, along with the glowing sunlight that was warmingly bathing her as she laid there, backside down in the grass with her arms and legs spread out. The grass was surprisingly very soft, and it smelt sweet, meaning it was just recently cut. _

_A bit confused at first, Sondra rubbed her eyes with her balled up fists, right before she forced herself up from the ground and stretched. That's when she realized that she was wearing different clothes. A plaid, red, cowgirl top that revealed her bellybutton, a pair of jean-pattern shorts, and a black pair of pointed toe boots. Sondra studied her arms and legs, along with her stomach a bit. A surprised smile exploded across her face, realizing that she was no longer covered in bruises, scratches, scars, and other injuries. Her light, light tan skin was just perfectly silky smooth, and her golden blonde hair was actually neatly combed for a change. Plus, it was cleaner and smelt a bit better in Sondra's opinion. _

_Suddenly, her new apperance wasn't the thing that Sondra was gawking over. She looked up, her eyes now huge with her mouth gaping open, she now realizing that she was no longer in the tree house with Johnny. Actually, Johnny wasn't even there. Sondra noticed that she was just laying there in an open field of recently cut grass, being warmingly hugged by the tender sunlight, and around her were many pretty and sweetly scented flowers that splashed off every color imagionable. Some trees were around, but not many, and a little bit down the hill that Sondra was on in the open field was a farm that contained horses running freely._

_The country, Sondra thought to herself, growing another surprised and cheerful grin at the scene. She was now in the country, the place she always dreamed of going away to with Iris and Gabriel so they could escape their parents, but after Gabriel died, Sondra lost her beliefs in ever going off to see the country. _

_Sondra took in a deep breath, fetching the smell of the country. It was so fresh and spirit-lifting, free and amazing. Sondra continued taking in more breaths, savoring each one more than the last, but suddenly, Sondra began picking up the scent of this cologne. _

_Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow as she took a few more sniffs, wondering where that cologne scent was coming from all the sudden._

_Suddenly, just as Sondra was about to open her mouth to question what that cologne was to herself, a different voice, this one being a young mans though, spoke up and beat her to speaking first._

_"I think it's best if you turn around and see the brilliant one who gave you this vision in the first place."_

_Sondra's pale blue eyes shot huge as her jaw dropped. With her mouth now gaping open, Sondra quickly bashed herself around, realizing that the cologne scent was actually stronger a bit behind her, and just as Sondra began telling herself that it couldn't be possible...she was wrong. There stood leaning back against the bark of a tree...Gabriel. His decently long, golden blonde hair had some hair grease applied in it, and his pale blue eyes were dazzling off so much joy from actually seeing Sondra. A big, handsome smile was spread across his face, but before he could say another work, he was tackled into a big, loving, warm, tight hug, having Sondra now wrapping her arms around him with her face hidden in the fabric of his plain black T-shirt that showed off every muscle he had on his chest. _

_Sondra now had some tears of happiness steaming down from her clenched shut eyes as she kept saying over and over again, the words muffling into Gabriel's shirt, "Gabe! Gabe! I can't believe it's actually you! I missed you so much! I missed you, I missed you! I love you!"_

_"Easy there, Sonny! That tickles!" Gabriel laughed a bit, right before getting down on his knees in front of Sondra and wrapping his arms back around her as she did the same to him once more. The nickname rang in Sondra's ears, echoing more and more each time. Gabriel had gave her the nickname 'Sonny' ever since she first started talking. She honestly couldn't believe that Gabriel still remembered it._

_"Where's Iris?" Sondra asked, spinning herself around a bit and gazing around the dirt roads, open fields, and wherever else she could see after she and Gabriel released each other from their loving hug, but no matter where she looked, Sondra couldn't find Iris. _

_Gabriel remained on his knees, but he couldn't help himself to pout after he took in and digested Sondra's question. _

_"She's not here, Sonny." Gabriel choked out the words, his voice sighing with regret after admitting that truth. It made it even more painful when he witnessed Sondra shoot him a shocked look that was mixed with plead completely. _

_"What?!" Sondra gasped "what do you mean, she's not here?!"_

_"Exactly that." Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. "She's just not here with us in Heaven." _

_"Heaven?!" Sondra gasped once more. She grew even more shocked when she watched Gabriel nod his head to her in response. "Did I die?!" Sondra nervously shook her head back and forth rapidly, her hands cuffed over her mouth with her eyes now bigger than ever before. _

_"No, no." Gabriel shook his head, which instantly made relief flash through Sondra's body, but it sort of returned when Gabriel added onto his speaking a few seconds later, "But I am."_

_Sondra gulped, remembering the horrible thing that caused Gabriel's death at such a young age. She shuddered a bit, but forced herself to gaze straight back at Gabriel, who was still looking right at her with complete innocence in his eyes._

_"I thought that this was the country." Sondra informed._

_A grin spread across Gabriel's face as he stood back up completely on his bare feet, and he leaned back against the same tree again. _

_"It's the country view of Heaven. Remember that Heaven is better than you could ever imagine, little sis. This is just a part of it." Gabriel explained as he took in a deep breath of the fresh air and let it out, both through his nose._

_"So why am I here though?" Sondra confusedly asked, shrugging her shoulders. "I ain't dead."_

_Gabriel hesitated, fixing his eyes back on his first little sister and keeping himself quiet for a few seconds before opening his mouth to speak anymore. Sondra witnessed some worry begin to pour into Gabriel's pale blue eyes that were darker by just a smidge compared to hers, but they were still pale. Gabriel being worried was very rare. Even when his folks beat him and cursed at him when he was alive didn't worry him._

_"You are correct, Sonny." Gabriel formed a pout. "However, the last thing I want and that any of your friends want is for you to actually end up dead. That's why I came to you in this dream, to tell you what you should do."_

_"...I'm sorry, but you sort of freaked me out when you said, 'For you to actually end up dead.'...what are you saying...I'm going to-" Sondra gulped down a huge baseball sized lump that was suddenly resting in her throat, but she shut herself up and released a deep breath of absolute relief when Gabriel shook his head, not even needing her to finish that sentence._

_"No, I'm not saying that. I don't even know what'll happen. I'm an angel and that's all I'll ever be up in Heaven. Either way, Sonny, I've been seeing and hearing everythin' that's been goin' on with you and Iris in and out of our house with Mom and Dad...now THAT'S where the issues are starting." Gabriel sighed._

_"...What are you gettin' at, Gabe?" Sondra crossed her arms and pouted, already having a good feeling on what Gabriel was going to say to her._

_"You and Iris are lying too much, Sonny." Gabriel informed. Yep, Sondra thought to herself. She got it right. She just knew that Gabriel would tell her that hers and Iris's lying has been going on too long and too much._

_Sondra took a seat back down in the freshly cut grassed and balled her fist up in the dirt, loving how it felt against her skin as she took another few looks around at the beautiful scene she was in. Gabriel's words that he just spoke to her were heavily on her mind, so after a few more looks around the country view side of Heaven, Sondra glanced back at Gabriel, who's eyes still never left her. _

_"Well, what do you expect us to do, Gabe?" Sondra demanded, but she made sure her voice was gentle and not commanding towards her dead older brother._

_Gabriel pouted more as he let out a sigh, before he opened his mouth and spoke softly in his breath, "I expect you two to do what's the truth."_

_Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow as she shook her head back and forth a couple slow times. "What do you mean, Gabe? You actually want Iris and I to tell our own friends that our parents are abusive and they smoke, take all kinds of different drugs, and drink at least twenty bottles of beer, wine, vodka, and whatnot each day?" Sondra questioned._

_Gabriel shrugged his shoulders, right before he cuffed his hands around one of the thick branches of the tree he was leaning against, before he lifted his bare feet up from the dirt and fresh grass, allowing his tall and lean body to dangle and swing freely and soothingly back and forth a bit as he continued to look at his first little sister._

_"Well...it's the truth." Gabriel pointed out. _

_"This truth is too painful and frightening to be shared." Sondra objected, raising her voice just a little bit, but not much since she didn't want to be harsh towards her own older brother who was dead. _

_"Either way...the truth is the truth, Sonny. Look at me here...I never talked 'bout Mom and Dad when I was alive, and now where am I? Up here, high in the sky and past the clouds and stars. The last thing I want is too witness yours and Iris's deaths and here I can't do anythin' about 'em. I'm not saying you're goin' to die, and I'm not saying Iris is goin' to die either, but you and I both know that it's a possibility." Gabriel lectured. _

_Sondra's fingertips fiddled around with the freshly cut and bright green grass as she gently brushed her hands around in the dirt, enjoying the smooth feeling it provided on her silky skin. It wasn't a surprise that Gabriel's words were heavily upon her mind, and her eyes were sparkling off nothing but complete nervousness with some worry included. She didn't want to die, she didn't want Iris to die...and she still hated the fact that Gabriel was already dead, considering she was with him right at that moment, all healed from her own injuries and in the country view of Heaven, as if Gabriel was actually still alive. However, he wasn't. He was an angel._

_"You must understand that Iris and I hate lying to our own friends that we've had for years, and now here I am lying to some new friends of mine." Sondra spoke when she finally had enough confidence inside to find her voice again._

_Gabriel nodded his head as he swung a few more times from the tree branch, and then allowed himself to let go, which is when he landed back on his bare feet perfectly. Without waiting another single moment, Gabriel walked over to Sondra and sat down in front of her, just like the two used to do when they talked back when Gabriel was alive._

_"You met new friends?" Gabriel questioned with a small grin tugging at his lips. "Who are they?"_

_"...Some Greasers." Sondra confessed. She couldn't help to tell the truth anyway. Gabriel was her own brother, and just so happened to be a Greaser when he was alive. Plus, considering she was up in Heaven at the time, Sondra couldn't lie at all._

_"Greasers?" Gabriel asked surprised, now grinning a bit more as he scratched his chin with his right hands index finger._

_Sondra nodded her head. "Yes. They're all boys except three. Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy Curtis, Kitten Andrews, Steve Randle, Two-Bit Mathews, Jocelyn, Cassidy, and Johnny Cade, and lastly, Dallas Winston...well, Dally is more in the background, but I'm getting used to him."_

_"Well, it sounds like you're making a whole lot more friends. I'm proud you're putting yourself out there in order to meet new friends. Tell me though...how are these new friends?" Gabriel questioned._

_"They're...tuff." Sondra replied, knowing that Gabriel knew what the term meant since he used to be a Greaser when he was alive. _

_"Tuff, huh?" Gabriel asked, and Sondra only nodded in response. "Well...how does it feel to lie to such tuff new friends?" Gabriel questioned, his voice somewhat serious and stern, but yet, it was calm and gentle at the same time._

_Sondra stared at Gabriel, her pale blue eyes now huge from shock. She didn't expect Gabriel to suddenly ask another question about her lying. She thought that they were over that topic already. Sondra's heart began to rapidly race in her chest, and if the warm sunlight wasn't bathing down on her like it was, she would've been freezing cold and paled._

_"...I admit, it's not thrilling, and it's painful in my wounded heart...but I don't want them to worry 'bout me." Sondra explained._

_"They worry about you either way, Sonny...your injuries may be hidden from their eyes, but when they don't hear your voice often or witness a joyful expression upon your face, they're bound to be worried about what they actually can see from you." Gabriel informed, but when he witnessed Sondra confusedly cock an eyebrow once again, he knew that he'd have to explain it in smaller terms._

_"In other words," Gabriel spoke "with you always being down in the dumps, these new friends of yours will know somethin' is wrong, and they'll worry about you."_

_"Ohh..." Sondra said after she hesitated for only a couple of seconds to take in and digest Gabriel's shorter terms towards the Curtis's Greaser gang actually worrying about her one way or another._

_"...Sonny, whether you notice it or not, there will always be at least one person worryin' about you every single day, even if they notice it or not." Gabriel assured "and I can promise you that I'm always going to be one of those people with you and Iris, worrying about the two of you every day and every night."_

_"...Why should you worry, Gabe? You're in the kingdom of God, safe and sound." Sondra pointed out that fact, but she shut herself up, realizing that was a ridiculous thing to say to her own older brother._

_"So what?!" Gabriel objected, the tone of his voice a bit more loud and stern, but yet, it was also gentle and calm. "Sonny, it doesn't matter where I am! You and Iris are still my little sisters, and I'll always love you two more than anything in the whole world, including myself...but yet...look at what happened to me...I'm dead."_

_"...You couldn't help that, Gabe...you couldn't help your death." Sondra informed, not being able to help herself to pout at least a little bit as she continued to fiddle around with the freshly cut, bright green grass with her fingertips._

_"You must stop lying about how I died, too, Sonny...you know I didn't die from cancer." Gabriel frowned as he laid down in the grass and rested his arms behind his head, relaxing in the warm bathing sunlight as he stared at the few puffy white clouds rolling by. _

_Sondra could've sworn she felt a bolting jolt shoot all throughout her body after she heard Gabriel say that to her. She couldn't believe it. It was already a pain to actually know the truth on how he actually died, but the last thing she wanted was others actually being sorry for her and apologizing about Gabriel's death, which would just make her feel more terrible._

_Sondra rested back down in the grass, laying down now next to Gabriel as she leaned on her side so she could look at him, while he gazed over at her, giving her a small, handsome grin before it turned back into a sorrow filled pout. _

_"The truth of your death is too horrible to remember...I don't like even thinking about it. What makes you think I'll actually be able to talk about it with others?" Sondra questioned. She had complete plead begging away in her pale blue eyes, but she knew Gabriel wouldn't wrap around her finger or melt in her hands like he did when he was actually alive._

_"...I know...it's a painful thought, but it's the truth." Gabriel sighed with absolute regret. _

_Sondra opened her mouth to say something back, but before she could get a single word out, she could've sworn she felt her shoulder gently being nudged, and the quiet words, "Baby, you gotta wake up!", we're echoing in her ears._

_"No...no!" Sondra begged and pleaded as she grasped a hold of Gabriel's hand, knowing that she was in a big dream. The scene around her began to go blurry a bit, and the sunlight the was warmingly bathing her was now turning into a cool breeze that was whistling around in the air._

_"I don't want to leave you, Gabe! I love you! I miss you!" Sondra cried, beginning to feel steaming, hot tears of sorrow begin to poor down her cheeks._

_"Sonny, I'm never far away...all you have to do is think about me...I love you, baby sis. Tell Iris I love her, too." Gabriel softly spoke, right before he leaned over and gave Sondra a family kiss on her forehead, stroking her golden blonde hair a bit while he was at it._

_"Baby, come on!" the voice echoed more in Sondra's ears. "You gotta get up! Please wake up!"_

_"...You better be off." Gabriel told his little sister with a sighing voice. "You'll see me again some day, I promise you that. You and Iris both will...but, Sonny...you know the truth...and you know the truth must be told sooner or later."_

Before Sondra knew it, her pale blue eyes shot open, and there she was, now awake and back in the tree house. She was no longer dressed in the clothes that she was wearing in her dream, and Gabriel wasn't there any more, but there Johnny was, his hand gently nudging Sondra's shoulder, but he finally stopped when he witnessed Sondra's eyes open back up.

"Johnny?" Sondra asked as she rubbed her eyes with her balled up fists. She could feel how sore her arms and legs were slimly feeling, so she instantly understood that her body was covered in her many bruises, scratches, scars, and other injuries all over again.

"Yes, Baby. It's me. Look, we gotta go! We slept for many hours and it's already 4:00! The gang is goin' to be so nervous 'bout where we are!" Johnny exclaimed with complete worry and nervousness in his voice, his black eyes huge and filled with plead as he rested there on his knees beside the oldest female Prescott.

Sondra's eyes shot huge, and she quickly took no hesitation to stand up from the old, wooden floor of the tree house by taking a gentle, but yet tough, grip of Johnny's hand when he offered it down to her.

"Baby, I never really noticed, but now I realize that you're wearing a necklace. It's tuff." Johnny complimented after he released Sondra's hand when she was perfectly balanced on both of her feet.

Confusedly, Sondra cocked an eyebrow after Johnny turned away from her and began packing up her book-bag for her so they could leave to get to the Curtis's house sooner and faster. Necklace? Sondra didn't remember wearing any necklace that day. Her eyebrow still cocked confusedly, Sondra tugged at her shirts collar a bit, until she felt the chain of this sudden necklace cooly touch the skin upon her neck.

"What the..." Sondra quietly muttered so softly to herself so only she would be able to hear her own words, and she gently tugged on the golden chain of this sudden necklace that was being worn around her neck. That's when Sondra noticed what was hanging from the necklace after it was completely exposed from being tucked into her shirt...the single name that hung from the golden chain in golden letters was..._Gabriel_.

Sondra's eyes shot huge all over again, certainly shocked at what she was actually now wearing around her neck. _That _was the exact necklace that Gabriel was wearing in her dream...and he actually died with that necklace around his neck, being berried with it also. Sondra couldn't believe it...that necklace had been gone for years with Gabriel's body in the graveyard...but now, it was neatly being worn around her neck, all clean and shiny, not rusty and/or old looking at all, as if it was brand new...but no questions needed to be asked because Sondra knew for a hardcore fact that the necklace that she was suddenly wearing around her neck was Gabriel's.

"Alright, Baby," Johnny instructed, and right after the oldest female Prescott heard Johnny talking to her again, she quickly tucked the necklace underneath her shirt again, so nobody would be able to see the _Gabriel _charm hanging from the end of the chain.

"We'd best go." Johnny said as he tossed Sondra her backpack, and she caught it with no trouble at all, right before she swung it simply over shoulder.

"...Hey, Johnny?" Sondra asked, still thinking heavily about both her sudden dream, and how that necklace could suddenly just be around her neck.

"Yeah?" Johnny shrugged his shoulders.

"Can I ask you something?"

Johnny nodded his head as he said the two words, "Of course."

"...Do you believe in people watching over us from Heaven?" Sondra questioned.

The eldest Cade hesitated, taking a moment to think about and digest Sondra's question, but when he did fully, he grew a big, wide, handsome grin as he nodded his head. Sondra couldn't help herself to grin then, and before she knew it, she and Johnny were both climbing out of the tree house, down the long rope with Johnny keeping his eyes clenched shut the entire time, and Sondra filled with absolute confusion towards her dream and necklace the entire time.

Only two questions were on Sondra's mind...how was the gang going to take her and Johnny not arriving to the Curtis's house until after 4:00? And...that dream...was it a frightening dream, or a heavenly nightmare?

**A/N: Cliffhanger! How will the gang take Johnny and Sondra taking it past 4:00 to actually be at the Curtis's house? Especially with how much Dallas hates Sondra...I hope you all loved this chapter, and please review if you want more! Please review! I'll try to update more ASAP, but I'm busy a lot this summer. Nevertheless, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll attempt to update. I'll read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	27. Questions Along With A Fight

**A/N: ****Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 27, and _please review_! _NO negative reviews, criticism, or flames, for they will be deleted ASAP_. Now, I hope yawl enjoy chapter 27 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

* * *

_Chapter 27_

"I'm workin' on my homework here!"

"Say, what's for dinner?"

"Purple chicken with green mashed potatoes and red corn!"

"If you dye our food anymore, our teeth and mouths will be stained for God knows how long, little buddy!"

"No fair! Best two out of three!"

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-"

"Two-Bit, if you sing that one more time, I will punch your lights out!"

"..S-E..."

"Two-Bit Erwin Mathews! What'd I just say?!"

Dallas rolled his eyes, just leaning there against the wall and keeping his mouth shut as he gazed out behind the drapes of the Curtis's living room window, hoping to see Johnny coming up by then, but the view Dallas was getting was still Cade free. The clock had just struck 4:25, and everyone else in the Curtis's Greasers gang was each doing their own things while waiting for Johnny patiently, except for Dally.

Two-Bit was drinking his third bottle of beer that day and zoned out on Mickey Mouse, while Kitten and Steve were both arm wrestling in their second arm wrestling match (Kitten won the first match.), and Sodapop was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen with Ponyboy working on some of his leftover homework at the table. As for Cassidy, she was playing peek-a-boo and other baby games with little Jocelyn, who was giggling and having a ball with her older sister, and lastly, Darry was kicking back in the recliner, reading the newspaper.

Dallas couldn't stay calm and patient at all, unlike all of the others. He was actually very deeply worried and nervous about the eldest Cade and where he was, causing him not to get to the Curtis's house earlier than he usually would, whether Dally showed it or not. He was actually very good at acting like he was keeping his cool. That tough, bad-boy act totally worked on everybody else in Tulsa, but as for everyone in the Curtis's Greasers gang, they each know completely that all that was inside of Dally wasn't hard and crunchy shell at all. Instead, it was more like a gooy and fluffy marshmallow substance that was all filling Dallas Winston, believe it or not. The gang just brought that out of him, whether it showed or Dally admitted it, or not.

"How could you all just be simply sittin' 'round, chatting while doin' your own usual things with Johnnycake somewhere else without any of us there to protect him?!" Dallas blurted out, not being able to handle not speaking about where Johnny was.

"Dally, man, just relax." Darry simply instructed, slapping the newspaper down on his lap as he gazed over to his right at Dally, who was only a couple of inches away. "Johnny's a sixteen-year-old boy with his own life here. He's not a baby. He can look out for himself." Darry informed, right before he locked his eyes back on the newspaper.

"...We're talking about Johnny here! Johnny Cade! He's a nervous wreck, 'member?!" Dally exclaimed, but he was actually being cautious when raising his voice at Darry, considering he was the leader of the gang. Not only that, but Jocelyn was in the room, too, and Dallas just had a soft spot for babies. He didn't want to scare or startle her into crying a single tear, nor cause her bottom lip to wobble at all.

"Dally, I know my brother more than anythin'. He carries a switchblade now, and he's actually a mighty fast runner if he ever needs to bolt. I'm sure he'll be here soon." Cassidy spoke up, her voice so sweet and caring, gentle and soft. She acted just like Johnny, but was a bit more brave and adventerous.

At that point, Dally knew he couldn't argue about where Johnny was and if he was alright. If Cassidy, Johnny's own kid sister, wasn't afraid or nervous about wherever he was all by himself out there, then Dally understood for a hardcore fact that he shouldn't worry either. Nevertheless, that wasn't going to stop Dally from sitting Johnny down and giving him a simple chat between the two of them, where Dally would question him about where he was, what he was doing, if he was with anybody, and all that stuff.

Dallas took in a deep breath and let it out, running his hands through his heavily greased hair while doing so, and he relaxed his eyes shut for a couple of seconds to remain calm and get a hold of himself, but as if on que, right when Dally reopened his eyes, Johnny came bashing through the front door of the Curtis's household, allowing it to actually slam shut behind him since he was in a rush.

Dally's eyes grew big a bit as he remained where he was, frozen as he continued to lean against the wall, while everyone else quickly stopped what they were doing. A flood of questions and Johnny's name was beginning to flow throughout the Curtis's house.

"Johnny! You're here!"

"Jonathan! Alexander! Cade!"

"Johnnycake! You made it! Join our usual party!"

"Johnny Cade!"

And many more things were echoed throughout the Curtis's household. Meanwhile, Johnny's hands were on his knees, and he was panting and catching his breath the best he could with his face beating red and heavily greased jet-black bangs hanging in front of his eyes a bit. When the silence fell in the Curtis's, it was almost like you could hear every single rapidly fast beat and pump that Johnny's chest was creating in his chest.

"...Hey, everyone..." Johnny squeaked out, too tired really to get another word out after that at the moment. At first, Dally was just remaining speechless, taking in the scene and hoping to God that Johnny wasn't jumped and was being ran after by some Socs or Regulars or just anybody in general.

"Johnny..." Dally croaked after he finally gained back his voice. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Dal...just tired." Johnny replied between a deep breath that he had to take in.

Confusedly, Darry cocked an eyebrow. "Why were you running, Johnny?"

"To get back here ASAP." Johnny simply responded, finally standing back up straight and stretching a bit from that run.

"Johnnycake, were you jumped?" Dally asked instantly, not taking a single moment of hesitation to answer that first question that popped into his mind after he took in Johnny's words. You could tell by the sound of Dally's voice that he was demanding more than simply asking, but the look on his face, his eyes widened and skin paled a bit, it looked more like he was completely nervous and worried.

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, hoping to death his blushing that was due to his extreme nervousness wasn't showing at all on his face. Luckily, not much of it was. Some was showing, but it was only a certain amount to make the gang think it was from his run.

"Then why were you runnin' to get back here so fast like that?" Dallas commanded yet another question for the eldest Cade to answer.

"I was late enough." Johnny reminded, hoping to death then that nobody would ask...

"Where were you, Johnny? Were you with anybody?" Two-Bit questioned, but his voice was a lot more calm and patient towards Johnny.

...Too late. The two questions Johnny didn't want to answer were now out and open in the air for him to answer. He wasn't angry at Two-Bit. He could never be upset at anybody in the gang. He loved each and every one of them equally, as if they were his, Cassidy's, and Jocelyn's actual siblings, and because of that, Johnny hated lying to them. It's not like he actually could. He sucked at lying no matter what.

Johnny began stuttering out many "Ums", "Uhs", "Wells", and "Ehs" with his face starting to heat up on the count of his huge amount of nervousness, mainly about Dally finding out the truth, considering he hated Sondra's guts. Nevertheless, before Johnny could say a word that wasn't stuttered or that didn't cause him to stammer a bit, Sondra came running through the front door of the Curtis's house, catching it before it slammed shut and quietly pulled it closed all the way behind her.

Johnny gazed at her from the corner of his eyes that were now huger than ever before, his slimly trembling arms crossed over his chest with the pit of his stomach now feeling heavy with a mighty tight knot. As for the rest of the gang, they each looked at Sondra and instantly found out that Johnny must've been with Sondra, and that only made 'em all smile or smirk in playful and teasing manners, right before they each rang out many "Aws" and "Ohs"...however, Dallas was the only one not looking fond in what he was witnessing with Sondra now standing inside the Curtis's house, and next to Johnny's side.

"...Hi, everyone..." Sondra shyly waved at each of the Greasers, keeping her wave towards Dally the fastest and shortest. She turned her attention then instantly to the floor, connecting her hands together behind her back, and her face started beating red from both nervousness and embarrassment.

"Johnny..." Dally growled "...what's _she _doing here?"

As if Dallas even needed to ask _that _question, Johnny thought to himself. Dally wasn't the dumb type, and he never needed to think things twice...he rarely even needed to think things through once! It was obvious that Dallas completely understood the fact that Johnny was someplace with Sondra.

"...I was away with Baby..." Johnnycake admitted, even though he truly didn't have to confess the truth.

"Aww! What were you two lovebirds doing? Building your nest together?" Two-Bit was laughing so hard at his own joke that his face was turning deep red, and his eyes starting creating tears, which started dripping down his face.

"Did you two kiss? Ohh, la, la!" Kitten playfully winked at Johnny, chuckling and giggling with her own words, which instantly had the rest of the gang, minus Dally, wrapped in with laughing along.

Johnny slightly peaked down at his old tennis shoes, thinking heavily about what Two-Bit and Kitten just said, causing him to start to blush up. A small, shy like grin spread across the oldest Cade's face.

"Aw, hush up!" Johnny ordered, even though his voice was calm and soft, and his small, shy like smile was still plastered on his face. Nonetheless, Johnny's smile instantly vanished from his face when he turned his attention over to Dally, who was actually _glaring _at him with his eyes sharply narrowed, face beating red, and teeth slightly showing, gritting slowly together.

Johnny secretly took down a gulp, having Sondra hide behind him as he began feeling like he was turning white as a sheet from his actual fear of Dally. Johnny has _never _been afraid of his own hero.

"Johnny...a word, please." Dally snarled, his voice dark and somewhat releasing some of his anger. Johnny didn't get a single chance to say a single word back. Dally had rushed by his side and gripped his arm, making sure he wasn't grasping him too hard to hurt him, and Dally pulled Johnny after him, leading the two of them into the Curtis's bathroom, where Dally finally released Johnny's arm.

"Gees, Dally!" Johnny said, half exclaiming, as he rubbed the part of his arm where Dallas had gripped him, just as Dally slammed the Curtis's bathroom door shut and locked it. By then, Dally and Johnny had heard Darry's voice call out to them from the opposite side of the door with the rest of the gang and Sondra, "Ya break it, ya buy it!"

Dally turned himself around, resting his back against the Curtis's now closed and locked bathroom door, right before he crossed his arms over his chest and focused his facial expression back on Johnny, who's eyes were now bigger than ever before once again, and he looked like he was going to be sick from so nervousness about what could possibly be coming to him.

"Need I ask what you were doing with her?! And why _her_?!" Dally's words angrily snarled out from his clenched teeth, and he wasn't in the mood for any hesitations, so it was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to be patient this time towards Johnny.

"She's my friend, Dal! I'm allowed to hang out with whoever I want! And Baby skipped school today to take care of me since I had a cold, but it seems like she took care of it perfectly!" Johnny explained as much as he could and as fast as possible so Dally's anger would hopefully end sooner other than later.

"Johnny, are you blind?! Did you realize yet that she's a _Regular_?!" Dallas objected, smacking his hand straight onto his face and running it up through his hair, then ruffling it back and forth a bit to try his best to contain the huge leftover amount of his age.

"Dally, stop it! I knew she was a Regular the first time I laid my eyes on her, but I didn't care 'bout it then, and I certainly haven't changed! I love Baby for who she is!" Johnny's voice was actually starting to rise with some bitterness and anger towards his own hero who was also one of his best friends. Secretly, Dallas found that completely shocking, just like everyone else in the gang would, but Dally only allowed his eyes to widen a bit. Other than that, he wouldn't release his shock for Johnny to see.

"Well, what exactly have you been doin' with 'Baby', huh?! Getting high?! Making out?! Injecting?!" Dally could've came up with even more possibilities to what Johnny and Sondra could've been doing, but he decided to shut himself up when Johnny formed this digusted look of both anger and actual disgust on his slimly red face, and he clenched his eyes shut, moving his hands that were now up to his shoulders back and forth rapidly, meaning he was telling Dallas to stop talking anyway.

"In response to those three ridiculous references, I say no, of course not, and...ew!" Johnny gagged, placing one of his hands over his mouth then, and his other hand on the center of his stomach, allowing more gags to come as his skin felt white as a sheet again from beginning to feel so sick towards Dally's meaning of 'injecting'.

"How did she take care of you then?! Answer me, Johnny! Man, what did she do?! Sleep with you?!" Dallas commanded yet another question, which felt like the billionth one in Johnny's mind with being asked all in that one night.

"Yes!" Johnny answered, referring to when Sondra rested her head on his shoulder in the tree house, and the two of them flicked out like lights, but right when Johnny exclaimed that, Dally's eyes shot wider then his eyes have ever grew before in his whole life. He took it the wrong way big time, and Johnny completely knew that. He even understood that he could've played that response better.

"Wait, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Johnny corrected himself as he did a face-palm, feeling more nervous and embarrassed on the inside more than any other feeling that could possibly be pictured for a time like that.

Dally didn't say anything. He remained silent; truly speechless, and he stayed frozen, his eyes still huge and breathing starting to get very heavy in order for him to contain his maximum rage. He was now actually trying to remain patient for Johnny, but with the conversation being about Sondra, Dally didn't think he could pull it off.

"We didn't sleep together, but we ended up falling asleep right next to each other!" Johnny confessed.

"Where?" Dally questioned.

Johnny truly didn't know how to respond to that new question. Sondra wanted to keep the tree house a secret place for only her, her mini 'gang', Iris, and Johnny to know about and visit, so Johnny knew he couldn't tell anybody, especially Dallas Winston, about the tree house. But Johnny sucked at lying.

"It doesn't matter where!" Johnny objected after hesitating a bit, and he held his hands up to his shoulders in a defending manner, right before he crossed them over his chest.

"Um, it actually kind of _does _matter, considering you two were all alone and ending up falling asleep next to each other!" Dally pointed out. Nevertheless, Johnny shook his head.

"Wrong!" Johnny objected "Dallas, all Baby did was clean my face with some cold water to tune down my fever, and she gave me some medicine to drink. She also handed over some box of tissues for me to use, and throughout all this afternoon, we were caught up in talking and laughing together, havin' such a tuff blast. I got a cold that's healing, and Baby took care of me all day...it's _obvious_ we'd both be tired!"

"So why'd you sleep next to her?" Dally asked.

"I offered her to lay her head on my shoulder! Seriously, after all she's done for me and my health today, she deserved the sweet and relaxing rest, along with any amazing dreams were runnin' through her head!" Johnny lectured "and also, let's just point out the fact if Baby didn't ditch school after she heard that I was ill with a cold, I would've remained crying on the front lawn of my place for all these hours, only growing more and more sick by the minute!"

Dang...even Dally had to confess to himself that, _that _was quite a mouthful of a mini speech for Johnny Cade, considering he was quiet, extremely shy, sensitive, and the type who hardly speaks out to anyone, including his own friends. However, that mini speech of Johnny's had no effect on Dallas at all about his feelings and thoughts towards Sondra. He still hated her guts, because he didn't like she was a Regular for one thing, but he also was worried over if she'd hurt Johnny somehow.

"Johnny, you really got to stop this! 'Baby' is no different from 'em other Regulars who are nothin' but enemies who are trying to invade one of our rumbles sooner or later with 'em Socs yet again, and they'll attempt slashing whoever the winner gang is about to be claimed!" Dally's voice began rising, it full of his maximum amount of rage and harsh bitterness, even though he was talking to Johnny.

But instead of sinking back for a change and feeling like crying as he trembled from fear, Johnny actually formed a full scowl at Dally, clenching his hands that were now back at his sides into fists, as he shook his head back and forth when he took in and digested Dally's words.

"You're wrong, Dally!" Johnny objected, but all Dally did was roll his eyes and continue with what he wanted to say, as if he didn't hear Johnny speak up and tell him that he was incorrect about Sondra.

"All 'Baby' is, is a no-good, trashy, hideous, crappy Regular who does nothin' but attempts to break up rumbles and fight whoever the winner is 'bout to be claimed!" Dally snarled.

"...That's not true." Johnny shook his head some more. He could've sworn he was actually feeling steam seeking out of his ears all the sudden, and the blood all within his body was boiling with fury. Johnny couldn't believe it...he was actually getting _ticked off _at his own hero.

"Yes, it is! And you know it, Johnny!" Dally snapped "that Regular 'friend' of yours is a tramp who's going to hurt you sooner or later, one way or thee other!"

"...Shut it..." Johnny began trying to count to ten in his head to maintain his sudden anger, but he knew he couldn't forever.

"Do you actually think she cares about you, Johnny?! Man, I'm sorry, but you're big time wrong! All she cares 'bout is actually feeling like she belongs, even if it's with people she hates greatly!" Dally spoke out more words, nearly spitting with every word that flew out of his mouth, furiously.

"...Shut up..." Johnny snarled softly, but beginning to puddle up with his anger.

"Jonathan Cade, face it...you got to get your head out of the clouds and look back at reality, for crying out loud! We're Greasers! The Regulars and the Socs are nothin' like us! None of us mix! It just doesn't work that way! I still can't believe you're calling you and that 'Baby' Regular actual 'friends'!" Dally growled.

"Shut your mouth..." Johnny's fists began to tremble from being clenched so, so tightly. The oldest Cade was certainly annoyed now when others teased, mocked, cursed, or talked down to his friends, no matter if they've been friends since childhood to only being friends for a couple of days.

"Johnnycake, come on! I'm only lookin' out for you! I'm telling you the truth! 'Baby' is nothing! You just got to realize that freakin' fact!" Dallas ordered.

Suddenly, Johnny felt like something snapped inside. He just couldn't hold in his anger anymore. His rage ended up getting the best of him.

"SHUT UP!" Johnny blustered at the top of his lungs, and before Dally could even show a smidge of his shock from Johnny's outburst, the eldest Cade flew one of his clenched fists back and shot it forward, nailing Dally right in the nose.

Johnny's eyes shot huge from fear as his jaw dropped. His mouth fully gaped open from shock as he slowly gazed down at his fists, which were now trembling. The one he used to actually _hit _Dally was covered in some red, and when Johnny nervously and fearly gazed his black eyes back on Dally, he couldn't believe what he had done. He had gave Dallas a bloody nose, which Dally was now using his sleeve to wipe the blood away, but what shocked Johnny even more...he could actually see tears forming in Dally's eyes, and there was just this feeling in the pit of Johnny's stomach that was tugging him into the direction of thinking that it wasn't because of him giving him a bloody nose.

"Dally...I'm so...so sor-" Johnny attempted to instantly apologize, but the words were jammed in his throat from feeling absoluetly ashamed in himself.

"...I got to go." Dally shook his head, hanging it then to attempt to hide the tears as he quickly unlocked the Curtis's bathroom door and forced it open.

"Dally, please!" Johnny begged, feeling absoluetly terrible, but before he could finish another word, Dally took off running like the devil was after him, bolting his way out of the Curtis's bathroom, then out the front door, not even looking at anybody else in the gang, nor taking a glare shot at Sondra. He just ran, allowing the Curtis's front door to slam shut behind him louder than ever before.

"Johnnycake, what happened?! That sounded like a lot of yelling in there! Are you alright? What's wrong with Dally? Is he okay?" Ponyboy went on asking questions right when Johnny exited the bathroom quietly and slowly, still trembling a bit from feeling absoluetly upset in himself.

Johnny took a look around the Curtis's living room, seeing how everybody was glancing right back at him with absolute concern. Even Two-Bit was with Mickey Mouse right on the TV. Johnny caught Sondra's pleading eyes and pout, which instantly sent out the message that she knew that Dally must've been ticked at him because he was with her the whole day, but Johnny could've cared less about that. Dally got mad over a lot of things. All Johnny hated was the fact that he allowed his rage to get the best of him and he nailed Dallas right in the nose with his fist.

"...Dally might not be back over here for the day. He'll properly come back 'round tomorrow. He's pretty upset at the time, and I am, too." Johnny sighed, his hands remaining jammed in his pockets as he gazed down at his old tennis shoes, but when he glanced back up, his attention instantly drew back to Sondra.

"Hey, Baby...I've been meanin' to ask you something." Johnny spoke quietly and shyly, hoping that it would change the topic about what happened between him and Dallas in the bathroom. The eldest Cade could tell it worked greatly, because everyone in the gang was now looking at him and Sondra with big smiles and smirks upon their faces, and their eyes were each flickering with playful teases that were most likely going to come.

Sondra felt surprised a little, but looked right in Johnny's eyes as she tugged at the bottom of her shirt a bit. "Really? What is it, Johnnycake?" she questioned kindly, softly, and patiently.

"Well..." Johnny took in a deep breath and let it out, both through his mouth, right before a shy grin spread across his face, which was now looking like it was starting to blush up a bit. "I was kind of hopin' that..." Johnny continued "...you'd join me for dinner at the diner and a movie tomorrow."

Sondra's face heated up a little as her eyes grew big a bit. She was certainly not expecting _that_, and the sound of the rest of the gang laughing and cheering all together certainly made her and Johnny both grow redder.

"I mean, if you don't want to, it's okay-" Johnny said, but Sondra cut him off. She was now shyly smiling back at him, still looking right back into his eyes as he stared into hers, and she tucked some of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

"Don't be ridiculous, Johnnycake. I'd love to go to the movies and out to the diner to eat with you." Sondra approved, her smile now wider and even more pretty with each of her sparkling white teeth showing.

"Really? Tuff!" Johnny nodded his head, grinning right back at Sondra, feeling completely overjoyed on the inside that she actually said yes.

"Aww! The two lovebirds got a date tomorrow night!" Steve playfully teased, howling with his own laughter then after speaking, and recieving a high-five from Soda, who instantly joined in with the laughter.

"It's _not _a date!" Johnny objected, his eyes now widened a bit and face even more red, just like Sondra's was.

"Oh, is that so? Then what do you call it when two friends of the opposite gender go out all alone together to the movies and then dinner?" Cassidy questioned, playfully winking at her older brother, enjoying the teasing that he and Sondra were recieving.

"A friends night out! Johnny and I are going to be hanging out all alone together with our first friends night out." Sondra answered Cassidy's question to cut Johnny a break.

"Right!" Johnny nodded his head with absolute agreement. "And you'd best watch it now, Cass! I'll be gettin' you later on tonight for joining in on this teasing!"

Cassidy only giggled and curled up into a ball on the floor, laying on her side as she smiled at Johnny, who grinned back. Cassidy knew she was going to be tickled to death that night for sure.

"I'd best get back to making dinner. You want to stay for some, Baby?" Sodapop offered.

"Sure, thanks!" Sondra nodded her head with her beautiful grin plastered on her face still.

"No problem. Our friends are always welcome to join us for dinner, aren't they, Darry?" Soda asked.

Darry playfully rolled his eyes. "As long as you're the one cookin' up the extra plate." Darry chuckled, and Sodapop only grinned and playfully rolled his eyes back.

"What 'bout you, Johnny? You stayin' for dinner?" Soda asked.

"Yeah, I will." Johnny replied "but I need to go talk to Dally first. Maybe I can convince him to come back for dinner, ya know?"

The rest of the gang, and even Sondra nodded. Nobody needed to say another word. Johnny was already out the door, heading his way to the place where Dallas would most likely never be, which is why he'd go there...his own house.

**A/N: Drama! Suspense! Cliffhangers! I know Johnny and Dally's friendship is rocky at the moment, but trust me, everythin' will be good again soon. Will Dally forgive Johnny? What'll happen on Johnny and Sondra's friend night out? Will Dallas grow to like Sondra sooner or later? What will Sondra's mini 'gang' say about her going out on the friend night with Johnny alone? Find out all these questions and more in more chapters comin' to ya soon! Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**

**Oh, and also, I'll be leaving for a vacation this Friday, and I won't be returning for a week, which means I can't update then, considering I can't write when I leave. :P No matter what though, I'll be plotting more for my stories when I'm away, and I'll be starting the next chapter sooner or later. It'll be out soon, so don't worry. Just remember I'm leaving Friday and won't be back for a week. Thanks! :)**


	28. Pieces to the Puzzle

**A/N: ****Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 28, and _please review_! _NO negative reviews, criticism, or flames, for they will be deleted ASAP_. Thank you. Now, I hope you guys, and gals, enjoy chapter 28 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

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_Chapter 28_

"WHERE'S MY WALLET?!" The _new_ Mr. Winston screamed, his harsh and cold voice echoing throughout the entire household just from the den, or in the terms, the living room. Mr. Winston was smashing glass against the wall and flipping the pillows wildly off from the couches. Pictures fell off the wall as books from the bookshelf came tumbling down to the carpeted floor, which was stained with many splashes of beer, wine, vodka, and any other alcoholic drink anybody could "buy" in Tulsa.

"I DON'T KNOW AND I DON'T CARE! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU CAN'T GO TO THE BAR TODAY ANYWAY! YOU HAVE TO SPEND THE DAY WITH ME! IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!" Mrs. Winston hollered back at her already drunk husband, watching him with her anger filled eyes as he started to wreck and trash the kitchen, even though it was completely messed up already, considering the fact that he already trashed it ten-to-fifteen minutes before.

"SO WHAT?! I'VE NEVER WANTED TO CELEBRATE OUR ANNIVERSARY SINCE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING THAT DEMON OF A CHILD ON YOUR MIND 24/7 INSTEAD OF ME!"

"THAT 'DEMON CHILD' IS YOUR STEP-SON, CHRIS! IF YOU DON'T RESPECT ME, YOUR OWN WIFE, AND YOUR OWN STEP-SON, DALLAS, THEN I THINK IT'S BEST IF YOU JUST PACK UP AND GET!"

Dally sighed, sitting on his unmade bed as he continued to wipe his nose, thinking that there was still blood when there truly wasn't, and all he could hear was his folks angrily going at it back and forth, cursing, spitting, and objecting at each other over and over, until some physical slaps and beatings started being heard echoing throughout the single-floored household, along with some painful and ticked off switching screams, but Dally didn't think anything of it. He didn't care. Besides, he was too caught up in thinking about what just happened over at the Curtis's house between him and Johnny.

All throughout life in Tulsa between the Curtis's Greasers gang, the oldest Cade had always been best friends with Dallas Winston, and now, Dally and Johnny both didn't know if they were friends anymore, both worrying over the nailing punch that Dally recieved in the nose from Johnny. It hurt both of them equally, whether they admitted it or not, mainly focusing on Dally there.

"Picking that 'Baby' over my word...when did I ever lead Johnnycake wrong? I ain't Two-Bit. Johnny's known me for many years, and he's only known 'bout 'Baby' for a few days...did anybody even teach him the lesson, pals before gals?" Dally mumbled and muttered to himself, groaning much more 'polite' and 'kind' terms to himself under his breath, but he was still somewhat mixed with annoyance, anger, and mainly sorrow, believe it or not.

Dally sighed to himself after he finished up cursing quietly, forming one of his extremely rare pouts upon his face, and he yanked out his switchblade from his old, worn out jeans pocket, flipping it out and instantly starting to carve his name on the wooden back of his bed, sighing and cursing more to himself under his breath, wishing that he actually was with somebody for a change.

Sylvia and Dallas had both called it off between the two of them yet again, meaning that Dally had the ring back on his own finger. As for Buck, he was busy working all day at the Dingo. Since Cherry, Marcia, and Randy were Socs, Dally didn't like being seen with them during the day, even though he thought Randy was tuff, Marcia was an alright gal, and most importantly, Dallas had the hots for Cherry, whether he admitted it or not. Dally's only option left was the Curtis's Greasers gang, but after what happened between him and Johnny, Dallas didn't know when he'd go back. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the day after tomorrow. Dally only shrugged, not knowing himself, and Dally usually knew everything without needing to think at all.

"Dallas! Dallas, can you please come here?" Mrs. Winston's voice called out for her son, her voice a plain mixture of plead and remaining anger. Confusedly, Dally cocked an eyebrow at the closed and locked wooden door of his bedroom, thinking what his mother could possibly want. Mr. and Mrs. Winston hardly ever wanted to see their own son, so Dallas had no clue why his mother was asking him to come out of his bedroom. He actually couldn't believe that his mom still remembered his name, considering he rarely ever stayed home with his folks.

Nonetheless, all Dally did was roll his eyes and release an annoyed sigh, right before he rested his switchblade down on his chipped nightstand, which had plenty of certain language written all over its surface, and after that, Dally left his bedroom to walk through the dirty kitchen that had everything from dirty dishes piled up in the sink from the garbage can overflowing with trash. Dallas leaned in the rectangle doorway that led into the living room, still pouting a bit from Johnny remaining on his mind, as he watched his father holler and curse at his mother, who had tears in her eyes with her face beating red from both major sorrow and sharp anger.

"What is it?" Dally asked, acting as if he wasn't even witnessing his parents going at it with their arguing and cursing. Truth being, he really didn't give a hang. He got his attitude from his actual father, which he deeply hated, but he always thought to himself that nobody could mess with him since he was hardcore. That part he liked.

"Clean up that glass." Mr. Winston sternly and bitterly instructed Dally, nearly spitting on him with his order as he motioned for his son to glance at the shattered pieces of sharp and pointed glass that he had thrown and smashed against the wall out of his drunk rage.

"Why don't _you _clean it up?!" Dally demanded, trying his best to sound angry in return towards his new step-father, but with what happened between him and Johnny still on his mind, Dallas was actually having major difficulty for one heck of a change.

Mr. Winston's bright yellow teeth clenched together tightly, completely showing as he flexed his muscles and narrowed his eyes sharply, daring to grab a hold of Dally's arm with such a tight, heartless, and powerful grip, but Dally instantly snatched his arm away, trying now to glare right back at his old man, but he couldn't pull it off from the previous events that took place at the Curtis's house.

"Don't touch me..." Dallas growled under his breath, knowing his drunk father couldn't hear him though.

"If I were you..." Mr. Winston snarled full of rage, flicking Dally off with one of his middle fingers. "...I'd listen to my instructions the first time around, unless you want to end up like the glass yourself! Shattered, broken, and nothin' anymore!" Mr. Winston warned, his voice rising and rising with even more rage with every word that came out of his mouth, but he couldn't care less about that. Mr. Winston never cared about a single thing or a single soul. The only things he actually gave a hang about was himself, alcoholic drinks, and cigarettes of all different brands.

Knowing his own mother, Dally could tell that she very much wanted to tell her new husband to step off and leave him out of what new arguement they were in. Nonetheless, Mrs. Winston didn't say anything. She was too upset, tears staining her red face as they flowed down from her red-rimmed eyes, but she was still glaring fully at her husband.

Usually, Dally would instantly stomp away from his step-dad after recieving a threat like that from his cold lips, cursing and calling his step-father every word in the book under his breath while he was at it from his huge amount of rage. However, what happened between him and Johnny was still on 'ol Dally's mind, and that's the only thing he could really put some thinking into. No space was leftover at all for negative actions or heartless words.

For a change, Dally got down on his knees and actually _listened _to his furious step-fathers order. Dallas didn't get a broom or anything like that. His step-dad forced him to use just his bare hands. Johnny...Johnny...Johnnycake...such a great young boy, and an amazing friend to have...but were they still friends after that night? That's all Dally could think about as he carefully picked up one sharp and pointy piece of glass after thee other each time, witnessing yet another fight between his step-dad and mother break out, but like always when he was around to witness anything, he stayed out of it completely.

After Dallas finished dumping the glass into the trash, wiping away some small amount of blood from some new cuts on his hands while he was at it, the toughest male Greaser in all of Tulsa headed back to his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him as his face flashed to the color of red. Believe it or not, some new tears began forming a bit in Dally's eyes, but all he did was plop himself back down on his bed, snatching up his switchblade from his nightstand and continuing to carve his name into the wooden back of his bed all over again.

Remembering how hard the punch actually was just made Dally's nose feel like it was stinging, and a sick twist continued to knot up in the pit of his stomach with each dark memory that flooded into his mind.

"...I love that kid..." Dally quietly admitted to himself through his few tears, his voice shaky a bit from his crying, and it was completely obvious that he was referring to Johnny. Jonathan Cade...he might've seemed just like any other teenage boy in all of Tulsa, but he was a bit _too _quiet and distant, just like Sondra Prescott. She might've looked like just any other female tomboy in Tulsa, but she seemed _too _silent and cauitous of others.

Confusedly, Dally narrowed his slimly watery eyes to himself, fixing that sudden new thought that was confusing to himself. Sondra was just like Johnny. She was shy, sensitive, quiet, distant, and cautious. Sure, Dally thought to himself, it was obvious that millions of people had others who were just like them, but in this case with Sondra and Johnny...Dallas could just sense that something wasn't right. What was it though? That's the question Dally kept hesitating on. Yeah, he truly wasn't a fan of Sondra at all, but still...he could tell that there was somethin' off about her.

"...What does Johnny honestly see in her? She's a Regular, for Pete's sake. I thought out of everyone who's male in the gang, next to Darry and Ponyboy, Johnny was extremely smart enough to know the fact that it's best to look at a certain someone of the opposite gender with different eyes who's actually in your kind." Dally explained, talking to himself and trying to shake off this strange feeling he was getting way, way deep down inside of him about something being different about Sondra, but he just couldn't let it go.

"That's weird..." Dally wiped away his few tears, his eyebrow now cocked, and he started scratching his chin with his index finger a bit. That meant that he was in heavy thought about something, and at the time, 50% of Dally's mind was now on his and Johnny's fight, while the new 50% was now on..._Sondra_.

"Hm..." Dallas thought "...usually I can let go of something without any issues or hesitation...but this 'Baby'...even though I don't like her at all, really...I can tell somethin' is up...she must be hiding something from me, Johnny, and the rest of the gang."

Dally started questioning what could Sondra _possibly _be hiding, considering that she was only fourteen-going-on-fifteen and a Regular. She was too quiet and too nervous, that's for sure. Dally knew that, but what was truly driving him insane on the inside was that he didn't understand what it could be. All he could think was that it couldn't have been serious at all, because he didn't think Sondra could possibly be going through anything extremely terrible, all because of the fact that she was a Regular.

Dally still believed that Regulars had it made, and actually, that's half correct. Regulars had to work to get what they want, but while some are like that, others don't have it made at all, like Sondra and Iris. The two female Prescott's were just lucky that they had their own rooms to sleep in with a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs. However, they didn't get any food on their plates, nor did they get actual love and care from their own parents. If it wasn't for Sondra's mini 'gang', she and Iris would both be dead from starvation. They always eat with the mini 'gang'.

"...That Regular..." Dally pointed his switchblade up to the ceiling, now laying flat on his back on his bed. "...What could she possibly be hiding, she bein' only 'round Pony's and Kitten's age and the middle-class kind...she's a strange one, that's for sure...very, very strange...too quiet, too hesitant 'round others...she's different, I know, but my quote for 'different' is the complete opposite of Johnny's 'different' in this case..."

Dallas was in deep thought, focusing on Sondra, surprisingly, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard this sudden knocking on his bedroom window, which was closed and locked, its drapes stained and torn, hanging in front of the glass. Nonetheless, that wasn't just any knock. _That _was Johnny's secret knock, so Dally would instantly know it's him, considering everyone in the gang had different knocks towards Dally, some being loud while others were just rapid. Johnny's was quiet and careful.

Dally shot up in a sitting manner, his eyes now huge and mouth slimly gaping open. Quickly, after hearing Johnny's secret knock repeat itself the few silent seconds later, Dally instantly dropped his switchblade down on his nightstand before he stood up from his bed, then quickly ran over to his window, pushing his drapes away from hanging in front of the glass. Right after that, Dallas unlocked the latch, not caring to look at who it was, considering he knew it was already Johnny, and after Dally slid his window up, the eldest Cade slid his slim way simply through the small window, landing right on his feet in front of Dally.

"Hey, Dallas..." Johnny gulped, his greeting nervous and ashamed. He stuffed his hands into his jean jackets pockets and stared at his dirty, worn out tennis shoes. Johnny didn't have enough guts right then to force himself to look at Dally straight in the eyes, just like Dally, who didn't have the guts to make Johnny look right at him.

"...Johnny, man." Dally 'greeted' as he stared at the oldest Cade for a couple more seconds, taking in the silence he was then recieving, but after about seven seconds, Dally turned away and walked back over to his bed, plopping himself down. He laid back, resting on his side with his head remaining up from his arm that was pointing up, his elbow pinned to the mattress.

"Your step-dad and mom at it again?" Dally nodded his head after taking in Johnny's question. Johnny sighed, wishing he could say more, but he felt like Dally hated him, even though there was this feeling inside of him, screaming that, that wasn't the truth.

"That prick is a million times worse than my actual old man." Dally snarled, referring to his step-father, rolling his eyes while he was at it. Johnny knew the actual Mr. Winston by heart, even though he's never met him face to face. All Johnny needed was Dally's word, and Johnny knew for sure that Dallas was abused then with his actual father, and now he was abused even more with his new step-dad.

"...Dally...do you know why-" Johnny began, but Dallas cut him off.

"Why you're here? I have a hunch." Dally shrugged a single shoulder. Johnny sighed. "You can come over here and sit if you want."

"Thanks." Johnny thanked at Dallas's offer, and he took it a bit hesitantly, walking over to the bed and taking a seat down in front of Dally's kicking back body.

More silence formed between the two male Greasers, the only sound now being heard was Mr. and Mrs. Winston's bickering back and forth. Johnny shuttered a bit, remembering his home life then with protecting Cassidy and Jocelyn from their own abusive folks. At least Dallas could fight back though. He couldn't, and neither could his kid sisters, obviously.

"Dally...I'm sorry." Johnny choked out his apology, still feeling absoluetly crushed on the inside about punching his hero in the nose. Johnny was still not making eye-contact either. He felt too ashamed still, so all he did was gaze around Dally's bedroom, for he hadn't seen it in God knows how long. Still messy and wrecked, that's for sure, but Johnny couldn't care less about that.

"_You're _sorry, Johnnycake? For what?" Dallas asked, even though he already knew what it was on the inside. He just wanted to hear Johnny say it, and Johnny knew that for a fact.

"...For nailin' you in the nose with my fist back at the Curtis's house." Johnny sighed, playing around with his thumbs as his hands held each other on his lap. "I didn't mean it...I didn't even mean to do it." Johnny went on with what was resting on his mind. "I'm sorry, Dal...I'm so, so sorry. However, I just hate it when the rest of the gang is actually gettin' to know Baby and accept her for who she is, you won't do anythin', ya know?" Johnny questioned, keeping his voice soft and nervous a bit.

The kid had a point, Dallas thought to himself. Two-Bit never liked Regulars, but after getting to meet Sondra himself, he grew to understand that she was pretty tuff, even though she wasn't in their kind. Darry's the leader of the Curtis's Greasers gang, instantly thinking Sondra was okay, and here's Steve, who's sometimes too stubborn for his own good, liking Sondra as well. Johnny wasn't the one to judge at all. However, Dally just didn't understand the Regulars. He wasn't the one to adore others who wasn't from his kind, and he just hated Sondra's guts.

"I dig what you mean, Johnnycake." Dally admitted "Nonetheless, you must realize that I'm not the one who leaps through hoops to actually get to know somebody who ain't a Greaser like us."

"Baby's not like 'em other Regulars, Dallas." Johnny assured "She's actually caring and generous. Quiet and shy, yes, but all you've got to do is get to know her."

Dally sat up, digesting the eldest Cade's words as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Johnny. I trust you, ya know that, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's just the others in this world who's not from our kind that I don't trust." Dally pointed out.

"But Baby's different!" Johnny reminded, not being able to help himself to take out a cigarette and light it up. As he started taking some drags, Dallas lit a cigarette for himself. He couldn't blame Johnny for snagging a cancer-stick from his jean pocket. When he's trying to control his hard feelings, that's just what Johnny did. Smoke.

"I dig what you mean, Johnnycake. I can see that...'Baby', isn't like 'em other Regulars...that's what I'm concerned 'bout though." Dally confessed. Actually, that wasn't fully the truth. Ever since Dally laid his eyes for the first time ever on Sondra, he's hated her because she was a Regular, but now, Dallas was concerned on if Sondra was up to hiding something from him, Johnny, and the rest of the gang.

Johnny confusedly cocked an eyebrow after he listened to Dally's words, then blew out a perfect smoke ring. "What do you mean, Dally?"

"Well..." Dallas shrugged "don't you think this Baby is up to something?"

"You mean, up to plotting with some other Regulars on crashing one of our rumbles with 'em Socs?" Johnny questioned.

"No." Dally shook his head. "I mean...Baby is very quiet and hesitant."

"...So?" Johnny shrugged his shoulders, not knowing anything else that he could possibly say to that.

"So..." Dally repeated Johnny's single word. "...I think that there's somethin' going on that nobody knows about with Baby."

A small pause formed between Dally and Johnny, but it came to an end about ten seconds later, and Johnny finally glanced over his shoulder at Dally, their eyes now meeting.

"Dally, are you tellin' me that you think Baby's keeping a secret?" Johnny asked, his voice actually dead serious, but at the same time, it was full of concern and confusion.

"Well, everyone has secrets, Johnnycake." Dally pointed out.

"True, I'll give ya that." Johnny shrugged, but then shook his head. "Nevertheless, Baby tells me pretty much everything about her, minus her actual name. She told me 'bout how great her parents are and everything like that."

"_So that 'Baby' DOES have it made. Go figure._" Dally thought to himself in his mind, taking a moment to see if Johnny's words changed the strange feeling he had when thinking about Sondra, but still, it surprisingly didn't change.

"Now, Johnny, everyone has at least one secret that they never tell anybody." Dally informed. Johnny only gazed at him, knowing he couldn't object to that. It was the truth. Everyone in the whole wide universe always at at least one secret, big or small, that they'd rather keep to themselves to know. Johnny couldn't picture Sondra like that though. She seemed too open towards him to actually have at least one secret cut off from him.

"I'm sorry, Dally, but I don't see anythin' that could have Baby keeping any kind of serious secret away from you, me, and/or the rest of the gang." Johnny spoke up, breaking the pause finally.

"...She's just like you, Johnnycake...very hesitant of others at first, very quiet, awfully shy, super sensitive...don't you think that's strange?" Dally questioned.

Johnny confusedly cocked an eyebrow again as he shook his head at Dally's new words.

"Not really, no." Johnny confessed "Dally, I don't think that's strange at all. There's billions and billions of people in this world, so I'm sure it's normal if you meet someone who's just like you."

"I thought that, too, but this one feels different..." Dally muttered under his breath to himself, scratching his chin with his opposite hand that wasn't holding his weed while he was at it. It was as if there was tons of pieces missing from the puzzle, and Dallas knew he was going to find and fit the pieces all together sooner or later, not caring how long it takes. Whether Dallas admitted it or not, even though Sondra was a Regular, he truly _did _have this spot way, way, _way_ deep down inside of him that kept thinking about her all the sudden, questioning her life more than just herself in general like he did before.

"Dally, please..." Johnny sighed "I know you're not thee biggest fan of Baby, but could you _please _try to get to know her better like the rest of the gang?"

"...I don't know, Johnnycake." Dally shrugged, putting his cigarette out in the ashtray that was also on his chipped nightstand. Then, he realized he was now recieving Johnny's puppy dog face, the pout and big eyes that were glimmering off plead and beg completely hard to say no to.

"_Please_, Dally? Please? For me?" Johnny begged. Dallas couldn't say no to that. Anything the Cade's asked him to do, he instantly did or agreed. He couldn't ever object or do the opposite towards them. He loved them, whether he said it or not.

"...Alright, alright...I'll try to get used to 'Baby' for you." Dally caved in, and right when he recieved Johnny's big, rare smile now plastered on his face, along with his eyes now glowing off joy and happiness, Dally couldn't help himself to proudly smirk, right before he grabbed Johnny in a playful headlock and started playfully messing up his hair, making 'em both chuckle a bit.

"Dally...I'm goin' out to the diner tomorrow night after catching a movie with Baby alone." Johnny just came out and said his plans for the next night, unexpectedly. Boy, Dallas was shocked, that's for sure. It wasn't a school night, and Dally usually hunted some action on weekends with Johnny and Pony, but now, he'd properly have to hang out with Two-Bit or something, because Darry would have his head if he took just Ponyboy to hunt some action with.

"...A date?" Dally's mouth gaped open as his jaw dropped. Johnny's eyes grew big as his face blushed up, and he instantly shook his head back and forth rapidly.

"No! Gee, why does everyone keep saying that?!" Johnny slapped his hand straight onto his forehead, letting out a sigh before glancing back at Dally. "It's just a friends night out. Not a date at all. Baby and I aren't like that. We're just friends, and that's all we're ever goin' to be." Johnny assured.

"...Uh-huh." Dally said, his surprised expression still on his face and voice sounding unsatisfied. Nonetheless, Dally promised he'd attempt to get used to Sondra for Johnny, so he couldn't object to what the next night will hold for the two younger teens.

"I'm serious, Dal." Johnny said as he put out his cigarette, then crossed his arms over his chest. "I've actually been plotting to give her a gift, just to show her how much I'm lucky to have such a close female friend like her. I remember making Kitten a friendship bracelet when we met, but we were just kids then. Bein' a sixteen-year-old now, I want to shoot for somethin' higher to give Baby, ya know, Dally?" the eldest Cade lectured.

"I dig ya." Dally nodded.

"What should I get her though? I'm not good at this kind of stuff. The girl is a fourteen-year-old tomboy, and I'm a sixteen-year-old Greaser with no money...you got any ideas, Dallas?" Johnny questioned, starting to play around with his fingertips a bit, hoping to death on the inside that he wasn't sounding ridiculous.

"_So the girl is fourteen...hm, I wonder when she'll turn fifteen...I might get her somethin' for her birthday, whenever it is._" Dally thought to himself in his head, before he spoke up with the exact words, "If you honestly want my opinion, Johnnycake, I think you should get Baby a ring."

Johnny's eyes widened as his face heated up, lighting to the shade of red from this sudden blushing. "A...ring?" Johnny asked, hoping to death on the inside that his gulp wasn't heard by Dally. Luckily, it wasn't.

"Yep, a ring. That's what I said." Dally nodded his head.

"What kind of ring?" Johnny questioned.

Dallas shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. As long as it isn't an engagment ring, I don't care what ring you give to that tomboy."

Believe it or not, Dally was being drop-dead serious there. He was technically warning Johnny that if he _did _give Sondra an engagment ring, things wouldn't end up well at all.

"But I'm broke." Johnny reminded, but that didn't stop Dally from speaking up with more words.

"Just do what I do if you want to get somethin' when you got no money then." Dally smirked.

"...Get Two-Bit to get it somehow for you?" Johnny questioned.

"No, that's my plan B, my plan C being stealing money, but you're not ready for that." Dally couldn't help himself from snickering a bit with his words there.

"Then what's your plan A?"

"Simple. Snaggin' what you're lookin' for from a Soc that's drunk. You can simply snag a ring from a drunk female Socs finger. She won't 'member a thing since she's drunk." Dally explained it all with Johnny listening to every word carefully. Normally, Johnny would object to anything that involved stealing from others, but at that moment, he didn't want to. All he wanted was to get Sondra a ring for a friendship gift one way or the other.

"Alright, thanks, Dal." Johnny thanked.

"No problem, kid."

"So...you want to come back over to the Curtis's house for dinner?"

"...Sure, why not?"

The two male Greasers stood up from the bed.

"Dally?" Johnny spoke up.

"Yeah?" Dally asked.

"...We good 'bout what happened?"

A proud grin formed upon Dally's face as he nodded his head, saying the word, "Absoluetly."

"We still best friends?" Johnny smiled.

"Until death strikes us way, way down the road of life, Johnnycake." Dallas promised, which instantly got him to recieve a hug from Johnny.

After that, all that was on Johnny's mind was Sondra, and the fact that the next day, he'd be going to the movies and then the diner with her, just the two of them all by themselves for a friends night out...but the main question Johnny kept getting haunted with was...what will actually happen during his and Sondra's friends night out?

**A/N: Another cliffhanger! What'll happen the next day between Johnny and Sondra during their friends night out? Will everything go as planned? What'll happen when Johnny attempts to snag a ring from a drunk female Soc? WILL he be able to get a ring at all? Will Sondra possibly be giving Johnny something in return? Find out all of these questions and more in the upcoming chapter! Please review! Thanks! :D :D :D :D**


	29. Friends Night Out

**A/N: ****Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 29, and _please review_! _NO negative reviews, criticism, or flames, for they will be deleted ASAP_. Thank you. Now, I hope you guys, and gals, enjoy chapter 29 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

* * *

_Chapter 29_

More yelling. More cursing. More throwing things. More fights. Not a surprise, according to Sondra. She was trying her best to tune out her parents recent arguement downstairs that night, as she sat there on her bed in her pajamas, cross-legged with a notebook opened up on her lap, and she was scribbling around on a piece of white paper with just a pencil, actually doodling such an amazing and well-detailed picture.

Sondra was an artist, that's for sure. She colored and doodled, switching over to reading and writing constantly, but both sides of her being artistic and creative. However, no one paid any mind to her artwork, no matter what form it was it. If it was a picture, if it was a poem or a song...it didn't matter. Sondra felt like her writing and whatnot that she created all on her own was worthless...but maybe that's because when her folks ever caught her writing or drawing her own pictures, songs, poems, or anything like that, her father would rip 'em all to shreds, while her mother cursed at her and yelled that her 'work' was a waste of time, just like she was just being herself.

Nevertheless, Sondra wouldn't allow her parents hurtful words and harsh actions towards her artwork to force her to quit. Secretly, Sondra doodled on the walls of her bedroom when she ran out of notebook paper, and she covers up all of the words and pictures with posters, so her parents wouldn't ever spot her talent that they described as 'trash'. Sondra actually believed her artwork was trashy a bit herself, but that's only because no one knows about her art talent except herself and her folks. Iris didn't know about it, and neither did her own mini 'gang'. Sondra just wanted to keep it a secret. Nonetheless...Sondra knew that when the next day arrived, her talent would be out to one more person.

A sharp slap was heard whistling across the air and smacking against the sound of skin, which instantly gave off a loud **_CLAP_ **sound, and that followed by Spring's ticked off and bitter voice hollering out, "YOU DON'T SMACK ME LIKE THAT, YOU PRICK!"

Sondra closed her eyes gently and took in a deep breath, keeping it held in for about three seconds until releasing it again, both through her nose. She then reopened her pale blue eyes, knowing for a fact that she didn't need to see her parents to know that her father had his hands tightly clenched into trembling fists that were starting to change to pale white from being clenched so tightly.

"WHO YOU CALLING A PRICK, YOU LAZY, UGLY, WORTHLESS PIECE OF-" Dominic went on and on, cursing and spitting at his high wife, his voice completely drunk and full of rage as he called Spring every name in the book.

"SHUT UP!" Spring began crying a bit from being so ticked off, and she kicked a lamp away from its stand that it was resting on, causing it to fly off and smash into tons of sharp and pointy pieces when the moss green-colored glass met the wall.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Dominic demanded "I'M THE LEADER IN THIS HOUSE! YOU LISTEN TO ME, LADY!"

Sometimes, Sondra couldn't help herself to feel sorry for her mom, and only her mom. That was only because Dominic beat her around with words and physical violence a whole lot when he got rip-roarin' drunk and whatnot from time to time, but for the past few weeks, her parents have been fighting a whole lot more. Even though Dominic was a drunk, and Spring was a drug taker, they never fought like that with each other.

All Sondra did though was keep herself silent, focusing more on getting the picture that she was working on done so she could look even more forward to the next day with her and Johnny having their first ever friends night out all by themselves.

The pencil shaded and lined neatly on the white piece of paper in the notebook that was resting on the oldest female Prescott's lap, as she carefully drew the picture, smiling a bit to herself then after reminding herself what, or _who_, she was drawing. Still, Sondra didn't see the beauty at all in her own work, but knowing the picture in her head, she loved it deeply.

The clock struck 11:40, and after working on that picture for about an hour or so, Sondra finally was able to rip it out of the notebook, which she did perfectly, right before she hid it under her bed, just in case her parents would come upstairs to see if she and Iris were already in bed. Iris was, that's for sure. She past out in her bed around 9:15.

As Sondra laid out some clothes that she figured were her best ones to wear for the next day, she started thinking heavily about what happened at the Curtis's dinner. The color dyed food by Soda was tasty and great in Sondra's opinion, and she was positive that she'd eat at the Curtis's house again sooner or later, if it was alright with them, of course, but that's not what was suddenly on her mind heavily.

Sondra remembered Dally and Johnny entering through the front door of the Curtis's house, Johnny smiling greatly with Dally proudly smirking a little. She grinned a bit to herself, knowing that they had made up for whatever it was that happened between the two of them in the Curtis's bathroom. They made it just in time for dinner, too. Soda was just about to serve the food, so Johnny and Dally took their seats at the table in the Curtis's kitchen with the rest of the gang, Johnny sitting to the left of Sondra as Dallas sat across from her. Sondra's little smile had vanished from her face when she realized all throughout eating, Dally kept peeking and staring at her with that stare of his. What was he doing? Trying to see through her or something?

Sondra wasn't dumb. She knew that Dally was clearly concerned about something, but she didn't believe it was about her or anything about her life. Maybe it was because Johnny had said something about her that Dallas questioned, or properly Dally was just giving her that look of his to mess with her or something. All Sondra kept telling herself was, there's no way in heck Dally would actually start growing concerned over her...or was he? ...Hm...Gabriel _did _tell her in her dream/nightmare that people were concerned about her one way or thee other, but Dallas Christopher Winston...he's the top bad boy in all of Tulsa that hated Regulars to death.

"There's no way...no...he hates me...he wouldn't ever care if somethin' happened to me." Sondra muttered to herself under her breath. After laying out her clothes for her to wear the next day, Sondra quietly and carefully cracked her bedroom door open, peeking out into the hallway to see nobody out there, but she could hear her folks still going at it back and forth downstairs.

Sondra rolled her eyes at their bickering, right before she tiptoed out of her bedroom and continued her way across the hallway, grasping Iris's bedroom doors doorknob and quietly twisting it fully around. When Sondra carefully cracked open the wooden door, she peeked in to check on little Iris, who was dressed in a pair of her pajamas and resting peacefully underneath the warm covers of her bed with her long hair shagged up all over her pillows and stuffed animals that laid of her bed with her.

A small grin spread across Sondra's face, and she quietly, but quickly at the same time, tiptoed through Iris's bedroom, the only light being the rose-shaped night-light that was plugged in and turned on by Iris's closet. Sondra continued her way all the way over to Iris's bed, which is where the oldest female Prescott carefully brushed some of her hair out of her face with her fingertips, then she leaned down, caringly and lovingly giving Iris a little family kiss on her forehead, before she tucked the covers around her body a bit better and more warmly.

"I love you." Sondra whispered in the dim bedroom of her kid sister, then tiptoeing back out into the hallway, which is when she quietly closed the door all the way behind her again. After that, Sondra just went back to her bedroom, closing her own door all the way and flicking the lights out, crawling into her bed afterwards. All was on her mind all through as she laid there under the covers was Johnny...and she couldn't wait to see him the next day for their friends night out.

The next day arrived faster before anybody's eyes. Like all teens usually do on weekends, Sondra slept in, being awaken around 10:45 to a beer bottle accidentally falling and hitting the floor, smashing into many different pieces of sharp and pointy bits. Dominic then started grumbling and mumbling every word in the book to himself as he stared at the broken glass on the floor, which he just left alone at the time and pulled out a different bottle of beer from the fridge, instantly popping off the cap and starting to jug it down, while Spring dabbed some white powder on the table, then she started snorting it up her nose through a straw.

Sondra rolled out of bed, quickly remaking it to look good as new before she instantly unbuttoned her pajama shirt, allowing it to fall and drop to the floor before she slipped off her pajama pants, leaving only her bra and underwear left on her bruised and sort of numb and sore body. Sondra was too caught up in thinking about Johnny to even consider the slight pain her body was giving her though.

Sondra couldn't remember the last time she wore a skirt. It's been many years, that's for sure. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Sondra from daring herself to slip on her cotton-candy pink, plaid, knee-length skirt that she found deep in the back of her drawers the night before when she was searching for an outfit to wear. To hide her bruises and other injuries that covered the skin upon her legs though, Sondra wore some white leggings. Sondra hated feeling girly, so to keep a piece of her actual tomboy self with her, she slipped on a pair of worn out, black tennis shoes, right before she slipped on a plain white tank-top that matched her leggings, and to finish her outfit off, she slipped on her favorite jean jacket, along with clipping the necklace around her neck that said _Gabriel_.

Thinking heavily about how she looked, Sondra gazed at her reflection in her mirror, focusing on every angle and inch that the glass reflected off of her. She truly didn't see the beauty that others claimed she had inside of her at all. That was common among teenage girls. However, Sondra wanted to be her tomboy self without worrying about being judged. Same thing with her being labeled as a Regular, unfortuently.

"I hope Johnny likes the way I look..." Sondra took in a deep, but yet soft at the same time, breath, then let it out, both through her mouth as she gazed at how girly she looked in her mirror, minus her shagged up hair and worn out tennis shoes, which showed off who she _actually _and _truly _was. A tomboy.

The movie that Sondra and Johnny were going to go see didn't start until 4:00, so Sondra completely understood that she had six hours to kill. She just simply walked Iris over to Charlie's house, hung out with her mini 'gang' a bit, blushing a bit at their jokes and teases towards her and Johnny going out on a date, which Sondra objected to about it just being a friends night out, and when the clock chimed 3:30, Sondra headed back to her house, ignoring yet another arguement between her parents as she trailed up the carpeted stairs and locked herself in her bedroom, where she would draw for the remaining half an hour.

Meanwhile at the Curtis's house, when the wall clock struck 3:50, Johnny had just slipped on his blue-jeans jacket, right before he gazed at his reflection in the Curtis's small wall mirror, fixing his heavily greased jet-black hair a bit with his fingertips.

"You tryin' to impress Baby on this 'friends night out' between the two of you, huh, Johnnycake?" Ponyboy snickered, smirking up at the oldest Cade from the book that he was reading as he sat there on the couch with Kitten sitting on one side of him, flipping through a magazine, and Two-Bit on his other side, eating a piece of chocolate cake. Steve and Soda were both playing cards with each other, and Cassidy was playing peek-a-boo and other baby games with Jocelyn yet again. Darry was busy fixing up a late lunch for the rest of the gang to eat when Johnny headed out to the movies and the diner with Sondra, and lastly, all Dally was doing was kicking back in the recliner, watching Johnny.

Johnny's eyes widened as his face turned red towards Pony's question, making the rest of the gang, minus Darry and Jocelyn, chuckle along with Ponyboy. Dallas wasn't laughing, but he was trying his best to keep a small grin away from appearing upon his face. Dally still might've not been the biggest fan of Sondra, but he promised Johnny that he'd try to get used to her, and a great beginners step in that was allowing Johnny to head on out for this friends night out with her and only her.

"Aw, hush up!" Johnny ordered, even though his voice was soft, and a small grin was tugging at his lips with his face stained red. "I'm trying to look my best, that's all."

The oldest Cade was dressed in a pair of dark blue, worn out jeans, an ordinary white T-shirt, his old and dirty tennis shoes, and his slightly dirty jean jacket.

"Johnny, it's so obvious you got the hots for Baby." Two-Bit said, making sure he swallowed what of his piece of chocolate cake that was in his mouth before speaking, the icing still on his lips a bit, but he didn't care.

"I do not!" Johnny objected yet again.

"Yes, you do." Sodapop smirked "I still 'member when I got my first ever girlfriend years ago, and man, I acted just like you are acting when Baby is even mentioned to you. I mean, even if we say her name, you blush."

Johnny turned himself around to face everybody, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head while he was at it.

"Yawl think what you want to think." Johnny announced "I must be on my way out now though."

"Alright, Romeo! Have a blast with your Juliet!" Steve laughed.

"You better tell us everything when you get back!" Cassidy chuckled at how red her brothers face looked, and at the fact that he was trying not to smile.

"Have fun, Johnny!" Darry called out from the kitchen.

"...But not _too _much fun." Dally added, his tone filled with some concern, but there was more warning than anything.

Johnny and Dallas had a short stare off then, Johnny taking some time to catch and digest what Dally just told him. Usually, Johnny would tell Dally to shut up with that topic, but he knew that Dallas was only saying that because he worried about him, and he had every right to be worried, considering that they were Greasers and that Mr. and Mrs. Cade were abusive jerks.

"Yeah, yeah, Dally." Johnny couldn't help the smirk from curling up on his lips as his black eyes sparkled off playfulness, and he said good-bye to everyone before he flipped his jean jackets collar the correct way, then headed out the Curtis's door, catching it before it slammed shut behind him. Finally, he headed off to the movie theater, the only thing being on his mind then was none other than Sondra.

The last ten minutes were fast, but not fast enough according to Johnny and Sondra, considering they both couldn't wait to catch the movie and go to the diner for dinner together afterwards. When trotting his way up to the movie theaters enterance, Johnny couldn't help himself to freeze in his tracks when his black eyes met Sondra, who was leaning against the wall of the outside of the movie house.

"...Baby?" Johnny asked, slowly making his way up to the blonde-haired girl.

"...The one and only, right in the flesh, Johnnycake." Sondra smirked playfully as she smiled up from her boots and gazed directly into Johnny's eyes as he stared right back into hers in return.

"Wow..." Johnny took in a deep, but soft, breath through his mouth, then let it out the exact same way, having a big, handsome, rare grin of his spread across his face right after realizing that _was _Sondra.

"...What is it?" Sondra questioned as she glanced down at herself, wiping her bare hands on her skirt, then she tugged at the bottom of her shirt a bit, hoping to death that there was nothing on her, or Johnny didn't catch any injury of hers. Nonetheless, there wasn't a single speck of anything on Sondra's clothes, except her shoes and jean jacket, but those were her tomboy parts of her outfit, and none of her injuries were showing at all.

"...What's wrong?" Sondra gulped, her eyes growing big like a pleading puppy dogs a bit from growing nervous in if Johnny didn't like the way she looked. He didn't reply to her first question, so Sondra was only nervous at that moment.

"Nothings wrong..." Johnny assured "it's just that...I've never seen you dressed like this before...it's just so different..."

"It's girly...I hate it." Sondra whined, but she was surprised to see Johnny actually still grinning at her. "When you just said it's so different..." Sondra stated, breaking the short pause.

"Yeah?"

"...Did you mean that in a good way, or a bad way?"

Johnny's smile grew more as his face started feeling like it was turning red, and he could've sworn he could feel this sudden warmth starting to glow throughout his entire body, causing him to feel completely fuzzy.

"...An extremely good way." Johnny promised "...but I think you must know...I adore girls who aren't afraid to be themselves."

In other words, Sondra completely understood that Johnny just told her that he digged her being a tomboy, and he knew from inside her to inside himself that she wasn't a girly girl, but a tomboy.

Sondra tried talking, but she was too busy caught up in thinking about what Johnny just said to her. She shrugged one shoulder, attempting to speak again, but instead, all she did was have a cute smile tug its way onto her bright red face. Strangely, Sondra could feel this feeling of hers tugging at her heart, making a certain part of it feel like it was melting, but she figured it didn't mean anything. All she and Johnny did then was smile at each other, gazing right into each others eyes before they had each other in the others arms, holding each other close as they gave each other a friendly embrace. After parting about five seconds later, the two teenagers entered the movie house, Johnny holding the door open for Sondra, and after she entered, he followed her.

Sondra and Johnny didn't bother getting popcorn or drinks since they were going to the diner after the movie to eat dinner. So, all the two teens did was enter the darkness of the movie house, taking two seats right next to each other in the fourth row close to the screen. Not many other people were hardly there at the movies that day. It was as if Sondra and Johnny had the whole movie to themselves.

The strange thing Johnny kept questioning was though that next to Ponyboy and Kitten, he was the best one at being able to focus and zone out on movies without any hesitation. Nonetheless, at that moment, all Johnny could think about was Sondra. Instead of hearing the characters from the movie speak back and forth, all Johnny could hear was how fast his heart was rapidly pounding in his chest with such a warm and tender power that was somehow getting to him. Every couple minutes as well, Johnny couldn't help himself to peek over at Sondra. Secretly, Sondra was going through the exact same things throughout the whole film. Her heart pumping so fast, the strange warmth embracing her insides, and gazing over at Johnny from the corner of her eye a bit. The two might've had their eyes on the film, but their minds were on each other.

Two hours later, as the clock struck 6:00, and the movie wrapped up into its credits, Johnny and Sondra stood up from their seats and stretched, grinning at each other for a moment when their eyes met, and afterwards, they stepped out into the dim evening. Since it was fall, it was obvious that it got darker faster. However, Johnny and Sondra didn't mind walking in the dark. They were being bathed underneath the starlight and moonlight as they walked down the sparkling sidewalk together.

"So...that was some movie. What was your favorite part?" Sondra questioned, trying to get a conversation started. Johnny's eyes grew big as he stared to the opposite side so Sondra couldn't see his face at the time. He had to react quick, but how? He didn't get a chance to focus on a single scene from the whole movie!

"...I can't say. I loved the whole thing." Johnny lied, now looking right at Sondra, who was still gazing at him. "What about you?"

Sondra looked away then, making the same facial expression for a couple of seconds, before she looked back at Johnny and said the exact words, "I loved the entire thing as well. It's such a great movie. I might have to go see it again."

"That makes two of us." Johnny muttered to himself under his breath, and the two arrived to the diner about fifteen minutes later. Sondra and Johnny both sat in a booth that a waitress escourted them over to with a big smile upon her face. Sondra sat on one side as Johnny sat on the opposite one, across from her. The walls in the diner were painted red and white, the floor checkered with the exact same colors, and the booths, chairs, and tables all being white and red as well.

"Care for drinks?" Johnny's and Sondra's waitress, Amy, offered, her smile so beautiful and green eyes so full of life.

"Yes, please." Sondra approved, Johnny just nodding his head with full agreement. "I'll have a Pepsi."

"Alright." Amy nodded, writing that drink down on her little notebook with the pen that she had tucked behind her earring pierced ear. "And what about you, young man?" Amy turned her attention over to Johnny, who was eyeing the marble table as he twirled his thumbs around on his lap.

"A Coke, please." Johnny shyly and quietly responded, hoping that Amy heard what drink he said. He knew that she did when she wrote it down on her notebook, still smiling and starting to nod her head again.

"Okay, I'll fetch you your drinks while I leave you to pick what food you'll like for dinner." Amy said.

"Alright, thank you." Sondra thanked.

Amy grinned again and nodded her head, but as she started walking away, she couldn't help herself to stop and gaze over her shoulder at Johnny and Sondra.

"Excuse me, but I just want to share my opinion on how adorable I think how cute the two of you are together." Amy complimented, making Johnny's eyes widen as he continued to gaze at the table and play around with his thumbs. All Sondra did was turn red, and she glaned over at Amy with a shy look now plastered on her face.

"Um, I'm sorry to inform you, Ma'am, but we're just friends." Sondra informed Amy.

"Oh." Amy shrugged, but her smile still remained fully on her face. "My mistake." Amy walked away to go fetch Sondra's and Johnny's drinks after saying those last two words.

Sondra gazed at Johnny, seeing how red he now looked after taking in what Amy said when mistaking them for a couple. Johnny peeked up at Sondra to see her now glancing at him, and he couldn't help himself to grin a bit. Sondra playfully smirked in return.

"You know you look great tonight, right?" Sondra questioned, wanting to make Johnny feel good about himself. Not only that, but Sondra's been wanting to tell Johnny that ever since he spotted her at the movies, but she wanted to do it when the time felt right to her.

Johnny, who was now flicking at the salt and pepper shakers a bit, focused his black eyes back on Sondra, not being able to help himself to smile widely and cutely after taking in Sondra's compliment.

"...You really think so?" Johnny asked "I just threw a random outfit together."

Sondra knew that he was lying there, but she just smiled and didn't bother to object to that. She knew how low Johnny had with confidence in himself.

"Well, I'm positive." Sondra said.

"...I'm positive that I think you're very pretty...I love when you're bein' yourself as a tomboy, too." Johnny hesitated a bit before sharing what was on his mind there, starting to dig into one of his jean jackets pockets secretly a bit.

"_He thinks...I'm...PRETTY?_" Sondra asked herself in a surprised manner in her mind, allowing her mouth to twitch into a wide smile as she bit at her bottom lip a bit, and her pale blue eyes shimmered with happiness. That's all Johnny needed for a thanks.

"Can you hold out for hand for me, please?" Johnny asked politely and softly.

Sondra nodded her head and held out one of her hands, palm-side up, but Johnny caringly turned it over the opposite way with his free hand, which sort of confused Sondra on the inside, but she kept her hand that way, gazing at it until...she saw this beautiful golden ring with a diamond shaped like a heart on it being slipped onto her pointer finger.

Sondra's jaw dropped as her mouth gaped open, and her pale blue eyes focused on how beautiful the ring was, until she snapped her attention quickly to the oldest Cade, who was smirking at her as he slid the ring on her finger, releasing it when it was finally all the way on Sondra's finger.

"...What do you think?" Johnny asked when Sondra didn't say anything back right away.

Sondra held her hand that now had the gorgeous ring on her pointer finger close to her chest, her other hand gently pressing on her wrist, and absolute happiness flashed in her eyes as she smiled a full precious and beautiful grin that showed all of her sparkling white teeth.

"Oh my god...Johnnycake, I love it! How'd you get it?" Sondra questioned.

Johnny smiled, playfully rolling his black eyes, then saying the exact words in response to Sondra's question, "Let's just say...Dally gave me a few tips when we made up yesterday."

It was then Sondra's turn to playfully roll her eyes as she continued to grin at Johnny, thanking him greatly over and over again as she shared a couple of glances at the gorgeous ring. However, Sondra's smile fell as plead started filling up her eyes, her mind now on what she actually had for Johnny to give for a gift.

"What's wrong, Baby?" Johnny questioned, a concerned/worried look now on his face with his eyebrow now cocked.

"...Well..." Sondra sighed "...I actually got you something, too...actually, I _made _somethin' for you...but I don't feel that it's good enough compared to this fabulous ring you actually got for me."

"Aw, Baby, we're friends here." Johnny reminded "I promise you, I bet whatever you made for me, I'll adore 100% for sure. What is it? Let me see it."

Sondra continued to pout a bit, but then sighed after hesitating, finally caving and reaching into her jean jackets pocket, which is when she pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper, handing it over to the eldest Cade from across the table right after getting it out.

"Don't open it now, please. I think it's best if you see it when you're alone." Sondra told Johnny. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he very much wanted to see what was ever on the folded piece of paper that she handed over to him, but Johnny nodded his head, tucking the piece of paper carefully away in his jean jackets pockets.

"I'm lovin' it already, Baby." Johnny smiled, and just saying those five words had Sondra grinning all over again.

When Amy arrived back not long at all after that and served Johnny and Sondra their drinks, she took their dinner orders. Sondra decided to get some chicken with a salad on the side, while Johnny got some roast with mashed potatoes and corn, along with him and Sondra both sharing a dinner basket of fries.

The dinner between both of the teens was certainly one they'd never forget. It was full of laughter, smiles, and different types of chats, both Sondra and Johnny going back and forth, asking each other random questions as they ate their food and drank their different pops. Johnny showed Sondra how he could toss a fry into his mouth by tossing it in the air and catching it perfectly in his mouth. Sondra chuckled at that and clapped each time Johnny did that trick.

"I need to go to the restroom for a moment." Johnny informed Sondra a bit embarrassedly, but he was relieved when Sondra shrugged her shoulders at him, the look on her face giving it away that it was alright.

"Alright, I'll be waiting here when you get back."

Johnny grinned and nodded, before getting up and heading his way off to the boys bathroom, leaving Sondra alone there at the booth, where she sat cross-legged, eating a couple more fries and licking the salt off from her fingers. Suddenly, Sondra heard the bell from above the front glass doors of the diner jingle, and when she turned her attention over to the door, she was shocked to see who it was. _Joshua_. She was only startled because there her first ever boyfriend was, dressed newly all in high-classed and top clothes with his hair neatly brushed.

"Joshua?!" Sondra gasped, watching the male Soc make his way over to where she was sitting alone in the booth.

"Hiya, Baby." Joshua formed a devious looking smirk, only remembering Sondra's nickname because his friends told him it after he woke up with his major hangover from being extremely drunk.

"What happened to you?!" Sondra demanded.

Joshua placed his hands on his hips, still smirking as he spoke the exact words, "I might as well ask you the same question."

"I asked you first!" Sondra snapped, wanting a true answer from her boyfriend, but all he did was roll his eyes.

"Excuse me, but I'm the man here, meanin' I call the shots." Joshua pointed out. "Now, I think it's best if you tell me right here, right now why you're here."

"I'm here with my friend!" Sondra exclaimed "he's in the restroom!"

Joshua's eyes shot huge, but then narrowed as his teeth clenched together after he took in and digested what Sondra just told him.

"_He?_" Joshua snarled like a junkyard dog. "You're here with another guy?!"

"Oh, Joshua, grow up!" Sondra bellowed, beginning to get annoyed already from Joshua's so called 'protection' towards 'his gal'.

"Answer me!"

"Yes! I'm here with another guy! But we're just friends! There, ya happy?!"

Joshua instantly flicked up one of his middle fingers, pointing it directly at Sondra with his clenching teeth now showing completely.

"Don't you _dare _use that tone with me!" Believe it or not, Joshua attempted grabbing Sondra by her shoulders so he could plant one right on her, but she instantly smacked his hands away, pushing him back without any hesitation afterwards.

"Don't you even _think _about kissin' me!" Sondra smacked Joshua clear across the face, causing the male Soc to instantly fly his hand to his cheek, where it was starting to turn red from such a hard slap. Sondra's been through plenty of abuse at home and was mocked by others a whole lot because she was a Regular to know when something wasn't going to end right. That's why she didn't want anything to do with Joshua any longer with his harsh orders and bad attitude and all.

"We're done!" Sondra bellowed, nearly spitting with her words, but she didn't care when barkin' like that towards Joshua.

"Excuse me?!" Joshua commanded to hear those words again, shooting Sondra such a tough look that was daring her to actually not say something like that again, but to his surprise, which he kept to himself, Sondra wasn't backing down.

"I said we're finished! Get out of here and never come by me again, ya hear?! Scram!" Sondra's voice rose with rage with each word she exclaimed from her lips, flinging her arm in a motioning way over Joshua's shoulder and over to the door, right before she just stomped off, not caring to hear if Joshua would say anything back that time, and she went off to find Amy so she could tell her that she and Johnny could pay the check when he came back from the restroom. However, Joshua wasn't leaving that easy...his ticked off glare upon his beating red face faded, becoming a devious smirk as he released some chuckles to himself, deciding he wanted to see who Sondra was at the diner with.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Johnny could instantly tell that something was bugging Sondra when he first laid his eyes on her after exiting the boys restroom. Sondra's arms were crossed over her chest, and she looked pretty angry, muttering God knows what under her breath.

"Joshua stopped by when you were in the bathroom. Turns out, he was a Soc." Sondra explained. Johnny's black eyes widened as his jaw dropped, saying the exact words "Oh my god...", but Sondra ignored him, going on with what was on her mind to share with Johnny. "He was totally different when we first met in the Dingo. He was properly high or drunk or somethin'. Either way, he turned out to be nothin' but a jerk. I broke up with him."

"You did?!" Johnny was certainly surprised, but yet on the inside, he was overjoyed to hear such news.

Sondra nodded her head. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure that boy never liked me for who I was anyway."

"...Well...if it means anythin'...I like you for who you are." Johnny shared "and besides, Joshua's gone. We can finally finish our food, then hurry on back."

Sondra couldn't help to smile after she heard Johnny tell her that he actually liked her for her, and she nodded her head with full agreement, the two teenagers now sitting back in their assigned booth.

"What exactly did Joshua say?" Johnny questioned after taking down a swig of his third Coke. "If you don't mind me by asking, that is."

"No, no, it's fine." Sondra shook her head, placing another fry in her mouth, chewing it up, then swallowing it before she started talking again. "All he was doing was telling me he was the man in the relationship, what he says goes, and he was getting jealous that-" However, before Sondra could get anymore words out to explain everything that happened between her and Joshua, she felt somebody actually stroke their hair inbetween her legs, kissing her leggings and trailing their lips up to actually try to make it up her skirt. Nonetheless, Sondra instantly leaped up with a squeak, getting out from the booth and completely drawing Johnny's attention.

"What's wrong, Baby?!" Johnny worriedly and nervously questioned, gently grasping Sondra's shoulders right after he got out of the booth himself.

"There's somebody under the table!" Sondra squeaked out with some tears in her eyes, knowing for a fact that she had just been sexually harrassed. "They were placing their head between my legs, trying to get under my skirt!"

Johnny's eyes narrowed sharply, and his face turned a deadly red, as his teeth started gritting together, and without a single moment of hesitation, he and Sondra both flashed their attention over to their booth to witness Joshua crawling his way out from underneath their table with a big and satisfied smirk on his face.

"You son of a-!" Sondra cursed, allowing the few tears that were resting in her pale blue eyes to fall down her cheeks. She knew for a hardcore fact right there and then that she was most likely never going to wear a skirt again in her whole life.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Johnny blustered, clenching his hands tightly into rock-hard fists, but all Joshua did was continue to smirk as he jammed his hands into his pockets.

"So, Baby...you're here with _him_?" Joshua snickered in a mocking and jocking manner. On the inside, he was truly ticked at the fact that Sondra was actually out at the diner with Johnny.

"Go to hell..." Sondra wiped away some of her falling tears, but to her surprise, before Joshua got any chance to say anything back to her, he was greeted by Johnny's fist, which slammed him across the cheek, causing him to fall flat down on the tile floor. Sondra's tearful eyes widened as her jaw fell, and her mouth gaped open. She seriously couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"_That's _for messing with my friend!" Johnny bellowed, giving Joshua a couple tough kicks in the ribs and stomach to unleash his rare rage that he hardly got. "Now get the heck out of here! And never bother Baby or myself again!"

Usually, Joshua never backs down from a fight, but as he scowled up at Johnny from the floor after being punched, he witnessed Johnny reach into his back pocket where his switchblade was located. Fighting with a weapon against bare hands wouldn't be such a great fight, so Joshua actually did the smart thing and bash his way out of the diner, leaving Johnny proudly smirking with great satisfaction, and Sondra all surprised in what she just witnessed Johnny do for her.

"Are you alright, Baby?" Johnny question, turning his attention back around to see the oldest female Prescott, who was now having a grin tugging at her lips as the remains of her tears in her eyes dried up completely.

"...I'm fine..." she sniffled a bit, but continued to grin, happily. "Why'd you do that for me?"

"...Maybe because I wanted to show you that I can." Johnny smirked "anywho, I think we ate enough. Ready to head on home?"

Sondra nodded her head, keeping her smile plastered on her face as she and Johnny both laid some of their money on the table, leaving it beside the bill before they both headed out of the diner. Nevertheless, they didn't get that far. Sondra and Johnny both stopped walking down the sidewalk when they heard a couple of honks from a car coming at them on the road. When Sondra first laid her eyes on the red truck, she seriously couldn't believe who was there in the car. Two other members from her mini 'gang', eighteen-year-old Jason, and seventeen-year-old Sean, Jason being the one driving with Sean kicking back with a cigarette in the passengers seat.

"Hey, Baby!" Jason cheered out the window that was now rolled down. All Sean did was smirk and nod his head.

"Jason! Sean!" Sondra's eyes widened with joy and excitement, as her mouth grew into a wide smile that was full of joy.

"You know these guys?" Johnny questioned.

Sondra nodded her head right after she took in Johnny's question. "Yeah, they're members of my mini 'gang'."

"Who's this, Baby? You're boyfriend?" Sean snickered, blowing out a perfect smoke ring from his lips out the window.

Once again, Johnny's eyes grew big as his face changed to the shade to a bright, bright red, and he glanced down at the concrete, starting to kick a pebble a bit back and forth to himself, while Sondra stared at her two male pals, wide-eyed as well, but she shook her head back and forth to answer Sean's question.

"No, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend." Sondra gently nudged Johnny to get his attention, which worked. "Johnny, meet my two other friends from my mini 'gang'. The blondie is Sean, and the brunette is Jason. Jason, Sean, meet my new friend, Jonathan, but everyone calls him Johnny for short, or Johnnycake for a nickname."

"Hey, nice to meet ya, Johnnycake." Jason greeted.

"Sup, Johnny." Sean flicked his ashes out the window of Jason's red truck, before he flashed Johnny a peace sign with both of his fingers. Sean was seriously just like Dallas Winston, except he actually liked Sondra. _That _was the only difference there was in the two of them. As for Jason, he was just like Peter and Two-Bit. Total jokers and goofballs who have a blast with life 24/7, just as long as you don't get on his bad side.

Shyly, Johnny waved at the two older boys in the red truck and forced himself to smile at them, not wanting to be rude. Jason and Sean knew that he was a Greaser just by looking at him, but Jason wasn't the type to judge, and as for Sean, anybody who's a friend of Sondra's and/or Iris's is a friend of his.

"Jason, I thought you were still on your trip in California!" Sondra informed.

"I was. Got back early." Jason simply shrugged his shoulders, flashing his handsome grin while doing so.

"And, Sean..." Sondra began talking, but then shut herself up, cocking an eyebrow. "Where were you exactly?"

"Jail." Sean responded coolly and easily without any trouble or hesitation, taking another drag of his cancer-stick while he was at it.

"...Of course." Sondra playfully rolled her eyes and smiled at Sean, who just smirked back.

"Anyway, Baby, Charlie called me and said that since I was bailing Sean out of jail, if we could pick you up from your night out with this Johnny." Jason explained.

"How was it, Babydoll?" Sean asked, using Sondra's other nickname to address her that time.

"Great fun!" Sondra responded with a great amount of cheer in her voice, as if Joshua didn't even exsist that night. "I hope we can do it again soon, Johnnycake!"

Okay, Johnny certainly wasn't expecting that. He was thinking that Sondra would say that night was a total drag after what happened in the diner with Joshua, but turns out, Sondra actually had great fun, just like Johnny did himself.

"...Me, too." Johnny grinned.

Sean and Jason exchanged smirks, right before they both had their eyes wander to anywhere that wasn't on Sondra and Johnny, because they knew that Sondra understood that she had to head away for the night, and they wanted her to be able to have one final good-bye to Johnny for that night.

"Did you really like our friends night out, Baby?" Johnny questioned so softly so only Sondra could hear him talking.

Sondra instantly nodded her head, smiling greatly, which she was pretty sure Johnny was starting to turn red over for some reason.

"I had such an amazing time today with you...hey, Johnny...can I ask you a question?" Sondra asked.

"Of course. Anythin'."

"...Did you really pay any attention to the movie we saw together today?"

A blank expression formed on Johnny's face. He was now taking a moment to think about her question, hesitating and creating a quiet pause for about eight seconds, but then, the eldest Cade smirked, his black eyes dancing with playfulness.

"Ya want the truth?" Johnny asked.

Sondra nodded with her smile still perfectly straight, saying the exact words to reply to his question, "Yeah, I want the truth."

Johnny then nodded his head, keeping his eyes directly on Sondra the whole time, but he said the single word coolly, "No."

Sondra couldn't help herself to laugh a bit along with Johnny there, and she gave him a playful punch in the arm, which Johnny rubbed, pretending to be hurt, which only made him and Sondra giggle more.

After their laughter died down and faded about ten seconds later, Sondra and Johnny both gazed at each other again, their eyes now suddenly locked, and their faces starting turning to that shade of a bright, bright red. The stars and moon were certainly gorgeous in the nighttime sky that evening, and the gentle breeze was whistling through the air, causing Sondra's golden blonde hair to flow a bit, while Johnny's heavily greased jet-black hair swayed in the musical soft wind that night too. Neither Sondra or Johnny said a single word then to each other, and Jason and Sean were still not looking, keeping their mouths shut themselves so Sondra and Johnny could have their moment still.

"Need I bother to share that I think you're...kind of...actually cute? In my mind, that is..." Sondra shyly grinned, breaking the silence between her and Johnny.

"...Need I bother to share that I think you're beautiful no matter what? In my mind, that is..." Johnny playfully smirked, but he seriously meant it when he thought Sondra was beautiful. Nonetheless, the two compliments that Johnny and Sondra both recieved from each other then, they just thought to themselves that some friends usually gave the others compliments like that, so they really didn't mean anything...or did they?

Quietness met the two teenagers again, and before Sondra or Johnny could see it coming, both of them had their eyes resting shut in dreamy manners, and as the breeze continued to calmly whistle that evening, while the moonlight and starlight danced around, Johnny and Sondra both slowly started leaning into each other...until finally...their lips actually met, smacking together with such a gentle, caring, and soft manner. Both of the teenagers could feel how hot the others face was burning, but they continued to kiss with their eyes remaining shut, and Sondra's arms wrapped around Johnny's back, while Johnny's left hand went around her back, but his right hand stroked her hair.

"Yeah...they're 'friends' alright." Sean snickered, keeping his tone extremely quiet so only the widely grinning Jason could hear his words.

"...They call it puppy love, my criminal friend." Jason chuckled just as quiet and soft, which instantly had him and Sean quietly laughing with each other a bit.

After fifteen seconds straight, Sondra and Johnny both parted from their kiss, staring at each other with slimly wide eyes. Johnny's mouth was now slightly hanging open, and Sondra was beating redder than ever before, but that didn't stop her from having a little grin curl up on her lips. Both of the teens didn't actually know why they just did that with each other.

Johnny had a hard time letting go of Sondra's hand. He had to hold on easy as he released her hand when she walked backwards, not saying anything, and she kept her pale blue eyes on him the entire time, until she had to turn around to open the door of Jason's red truck, and she hopped into the backseat, closing the door behind her and buckling herself up, before she gazed back out the window again at Johnny, who hadn't taken his black eyes off of her.

Sondra grew another small smirk-like look as she placed her right hand flat on the glass of the window. In return, Johnny had rose his own right hand up and placed it on the opposite side of the glass, making it look like his and Sondra's hands were touching through the glass. It was as if the song "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds was playing in both Sondra's and Johnny's minds, which it was, when the lyrics actually said "don't you...forget about me...", Jason started driving his red truck again, forcing Johnny to take his hand back away from the glass.

Sondra turned around in her seat, looking at Johnny as he continued looking at the red truck until it was fully out of sight. When the red truck _was _actually out of sight, Johnny, who was left in a breathtaking manner, remembered that Sondra had given him a piece of paper that was neatly folded, and she told him she thought it was best if he looked at it when he was alone.

Without hesitating for another single second, Johnny dug his hand into his pocket, and he carefully pulled out the piece of paper, carefully unfolding it to reveal what was on it...it was actually the picture that Sondra was working on for over an hour the night before...and the picture was actually...a picture of Johnny. Johnny couldn't believe it. He was plain speechless, his eyes now widen with his mouth starting to fall open yet again as he stared at how awesome the picture was. It was so well-detailed and everything, and it was just drawn in pencil.

Sondra got everything right from his decently long, heavily greased hair, to his scar that was just below his right eye a bit. A big, wide smile spread across Johnny's face, and he stared up at the twinkling stars in the dark sky, thinking now about Sondra as he hugged the picture close to his chest for about ten seconds. Then, he folded it back up and slipped it back into his pocket.

It was time to head back to the Curtis's house, and as Johnny walked down the sidewalk with one of his hands jammed in his jean jackets pockets, and his mind completely on Sondra, especially about their kiss that surprised him greatly, Johnny used his other hand to do a fist-pump in the air. That night was certainly one he'd never forget, and same goes for Sondra, but the main question is...what would all happen the next day?

**A/N: Cliffhanger! What WILL happen the next day? Will Johnny tell the gang about the kiss? How will they all react if he DOES tell 'em? Will Sondra and Johnny think anything of the kiss? Find out all of these questions and more in upcoming chapters! Please review! Thanks, everyone! :D :D :D :D**


	30. Running Away

**A/N: ****Now, not much at all to say here unless it's thank you all for the favorites and the reviews! They truly do mean a lot greatly! Keep 'em all comin', please! E****njoy chapter 30, and _please review_! _NO negative reviews, criticism, or flames, for they will be deleted ASAP_. Thank you. Now, I hope you guys, and gals, enjoy chapter 30 as much as the first chapters of the whole story! :) :D**

* * *

_Chapter 30_

That kiss...it was actually very embracing...tender...soft...gentle...it was just amazing, whether the oldest Cade admitted it or not. Actually, that was the thing there. He didn't want to admit anything about the kiss to the gang, or even his own sisters. It was obvious that Dally was pretty serious about him just wanting to be friends with Sondra, and Johnny didn't know how in the world he could continue making _that _sound possible if he shared the kiss between him and Sondra to anybody. The last thing he needed was the gang and Cassidy teasing him more and more daily, and forcing Dallas to get upset all over again from snapping.

Nonetheless, Johnny couldn't stop thinking about the kiss...it certainly surprised him, that's for sure, and half of him believed that the kiss didn't mean anything, while the other half of him battled, objecting that it actually _did _mean something, but Johnny didn't know what it was.

"She has a sister, ya know, Two-Bit." Soda smirked, wrapping up a story that he was sharing with the wisecracker of the gang, the two of them just chilling on the couch with Steve as well, who was flipping through a cars and engines magazine, while the eldest Curtis kicked back in the recliner with a cup of coffee, and Dally rocked Jocelyn back and forth calmly and soothingly in his arms, causing her to suck on her thumb and allow her adorable eyes to fall closed, until she fell asleep, her head resting peacefully on Dally's shoulder, as he hummed a little song to the baby Cade and patted her back, relaxing her. Lastly, all Cassidy was doing was watching some TV, and Ponyboy and Kitten were practicing their book skills by quizzing each other with all kinds of different questions they made up from some books they read in the past.

"She does? Really?" Two-Bit asked, grinning his wide and goofy smile ear to ear after digesting Sodapop's words.

"Yep, she does." Soda nodded his head as he rested his hands behind his head and placed his bare feet up on the coffee table.

"Feet _off _of the coffee table, Pepsi-Cola!" Darry ordered, not needing to take a single gaze over at his first kid brother to know he had his feet resting on the wooden surface of the coffee table.

"She blonde?" Two-Bit questioned just as Sodapop objeyed Darry's demand and removed his feet from resting on the coffee table.

"Yeah. She's a cutie, that's for sure. Isn't that right, Stevie?" Soda asked, glancing over at the number one car expert in the gang.

Steve smirked, knowing who his best buddy was talking about, and he nodded his head to respond to Sodapop's question, right before he went back to just flipping through and glancing at the pictures in the cars and engines magazine that he was looking through, not really caring about reading a single word out of it.

"Alright, alright. Give her my number whenever you see her again, dude." Two-Bit snickered a bit, and Soda flashed his extremely handsome, movie-star smile at his wisecracker pal as he nodded his head, the two of them doing a knuckle-touch then.

Darry couldn't help himself to grin at least a tiny bit at that, and he playfully rolled his eyes just as he took another few sips down of his coffee from his mug. It felt pretty nice being able to kick back with the rest of the gang with no stress or issues on Darry's mind, and with the bills already paid and chores around the house done for the day, there was nothing left to do but chill out and relax.

Nonetheless, it was then Dally's turn to roll his eyes at Two-Bit and Soda, thinking that their behavior in setting others up on dates was just ridiculous...then again, this is coming from Dallas Winston, who just goes straight up to a girl and simply tells her the flirty remarks he has on his mind about her without any hesitation or trouble at all. And _that's _why Ponyboy's older brothers don't _ever _want him to be influenced on how to approach a girl by 'ol Dally.

"It's getting pretty late. Don't you guys, and gals, think Johnnycake should be back from his friends night out with just him and that Baby by now?" Dally questioned, making sure he was having his tone at a equal level of loud and soft, both 50/50, so he wouldn't wake little Jocelyn back up.

"Dally, first off, it's only five minutes past seven, so it's not _that _late, and second of all, like I told you yesterday Johnny's a sixteen-year-old boy with his own life. He's not a baby or a child that we need to keep a close eye on like we do with Jocelyn." Darry reminded.

"So? He may be sixteen, but the boy is still that nervous wreck who's afraid of pretty much everything." Dallas mumbled sort of stubbornly, thinking that his words were muffled under his breath so no one else would hear him speaking, but he was proven wrong when he caught a little view at the corner of his eye of Darry peeking over at him with his icy-colored eyes when he took another sip of his coffee.

After swallowing what was in his mouth, Darry leaned forward a bit, having his prompted up elbows meet his knees, his icy-colored eyes still remaining on Dallas. Dally knew that the eldest Curtis was now looking directly at him, so he figured the best thing to do was to actually glance back in return. Usually, Dallas could care less about talking to someone or listening to them chat to him without him looking directly at them, but if and when that person is Darrel Curtis, Dally knows he has no choice to look at him when he's speaking.

"...The boy..." Darry took in a deep breath and let it out, both through his mouth, keeping his eyes straight on Dally the whole time when speaking about Johnny. "...He carries a switchblade and knows right from wrong...'em Socs rarely come on our side of town durin' the evenin' anyway as well...Johnny will be back from his friends night out sooner or later before we know it. Just give him some time, would ya? We can't be with him every single second of the day here." Darry went on and on lecturing, every word coming out of his mouth true and nothing but facts. Even Dallas knew that they were true facts, but he didn't want to admit that, especially not in front of the gang.

"...Whatever." Dally muttered, his voice stubborn and a bit angry, but he was doing his best to control his temper, especially towards Darry and with Cassidy and Jocelyn in the room. "I need a Pepsi." Dally took in a deep breath and let out a sigh, gazing back at Darry again after he took a single glance around the living room to see everyone else in the gang still doing whatever it was they were all caught up in that evening.

"Superman?" Dallas addressed the eldest Curtis. "Mind takin' Joce?"

"Sure, I'll take her." Darry simply shrugged his shoulders, placing his mug of freshly made coffee down on the stand that was there beside the recliner. Afterwards, Dally gently and carefully handed the adorable little baby Cade over to the strong, trustworthy, caring, and protective oldest Curtis, who knew with his experience of when he used to hold Soda and Ponyboy when they were babies, to support her head with extra care and gentleness. At that moment, Darry couldn't help himself yet again to form a smile when rocking the sleeping little cutie in his tough arms, giving her forehead a few gentle little kisses while he was at it. Dally didn't catch it though. Right after Jocelyn was out of his arms, he trotted right into the kitchen to fetch a Pepsi from the fridge. Two-Bit had finished up the remaining bottles of beer, so Darry had to buy a few more packs of it whenever he went out grocery shopping again.

Suddenly, as if on que, just as Darry started questioning then about Johnny, thanks to Dally for getting in his head, the oldest Cade came through the front door of the house, this small, shy grin plastered on his bright, bright red face, and just as it nearly slipped his mind, Johnny quickly caught the Curtis's door, quietly closing it all the way behind him before it could slam shut and have the loud noise echo throughout the household.

"Johnny?" Dally instantly speed-walked over to the Curtis's arch doorway, where he leaned and took some more sips of his can of Pepsi, while he also focused his eyes on Johnny confusedly, not understanding what got the oldest Cade looking so happy that evening.

"...Uh-huh." Johnny spoke up a bit hesitantly, but he was only pausing because he was all caught up in Sondra and what all happened throughout their whole friends night out together, especially the surprising kiss that he still questioned to himself if it meant anything or not. Just as Johnny slowly began making his way over to the couch to take a seat, his puppy dog black eyes filled with care as they stared down at his dirty, worn out tennis shoes when walking, and with the same small, shy grin still plastered on his bright, bright face, Cassidy eyed the Curtis's wall clock that hung beside the bookshelf.

"It's 7:08." the second oldest Cade then announced, just to be able to point something out to Johnny, but it didn't seem like it got any different reaction. Johnny still looked the same, grinning shyly and cutely at his feet with Sondra fully on his mind as he took a seat on the couch inbetween Two-Bit and Soda, only saying the exact words, "Uh-huh...", yet again in order to say at least something back to his first kid sister.

Confusedly, Dally cocked an eyebrow as he looked at Darry, who just grinned in return, and the rest of the gang just simply exchanged different smiles and smirks of their own.

"How was it with Baby durin' your 'friends night out', Johnnycake?" Kitten asked.

Johnny leaned over, resting his head in his open palms of his hands as he sighed a soft, happy sigh, saying the exact words to reply to Kitten's question for everyone to hear, "It was great fun...I recommend the movie to be seen and everything. I hope Baby and I can do it again soon."

Dally was now in deep thought, questioning many things then, like why Johnny looked so happy at that moment, what all happened with him and Sondra during their friends night out together, what secret could Sondra possibly be hiding from him, Johnny, and the rest of the gang, and whatnot. Nonetheless, Dallas was truly glad to see Johnny look so happy. He's never seen either of the Cade's look so overjoyed in such a shy and simple manner like that in God knows how long. Possibly years, most likely.

Johnny went all out, continuing to smile widely with his face growing a bit more red with each word he happily and shyly spoke, as he went on and on explaining every single detail that he possibly could about his and Sondra's friends night out, bringing up how tuff he thought she looked when he met up with her outside of the movie theater, and then telling about how it was on their walk to the diner, going into the story then on what all happened with him and Sondra as they gave each other their friendship gifts and ordered their food. Johnny even brought up the pretty waitress, Amy, and her sunny and bright attitude, as well as what happened with the devious minded Joshua. The gang was satisfied with each word Johnny shared with them, and they were each completely thrilled when they heard the part when he took Joshua down for sexually harrassing Sondra. After that, Johnny wrapped it all up with telling about Sean's and Jason's apperances and Jason's red truck, before Johnny made up that he and Sondra only hugged before saying good-bye, and she hopped in the backseat of Jason's truck, buckling up and driving away, leaving Johnny to find out that the gift that she gave him was an awesome picture of him.

"Man, Johnnycake!" Two-Bit cheered, clapping the eldest Cade on the shoulder. "Sounds like you had quite a blast tonight!"

"I did." Johnny smiled once more as he nodded his head, adding the exact words to his speaking then, "Baby had a blast, too."

"How was the food at the diner?" Steve questioned.

Johnny shrugged his shoulders, still grinning a slim bit. "Tasty, I guess."

"You still have that picture that Baby created for you, bro?" Cassidy asked, now warmly wrapping herself up in a blanket.

"Of course!" Johnny responded.

"Tuff, let's see it!" Kitten clapped her hands together a single time, smiling beautifully and brightly.

"Yeah, show us the picture, Johnny!" Ponyboy nodded his head with absolute agreement towards what Kitten just said.

Johnny shrugged, not really seeing any reason why his own friends since childhood couldn't see the picture that Sondra made for him, so he simply reached into his jean jackets pocket and pulled out the neatly refolded piece of paper. Everyone watched, completely lost in the piece of paper as Johnny unfolded it, and right when everybody's eyes met the neatly drawn picture of the oldest Cade, everybody in the gang allowed their mouths to fall open, as their eyes glowed with such surprised thoughts and feelings. Many "oh's" and "aw's" flooded the Curtis's living room, even from Dallas a bit, as they each gawked at the golden picture.

"I never knew Baby was an artist!" Kitten spoke up, stunned.

"Neither did I." Darry agreed, shaking his head back and forth.

"Actually, I don't think anyone knew that Baby was an artist. I didn't even know until tonight." Johnny shared as he carefully folded up the picture once again, then slipped it back into his blue-jeans jackets pocket.

Then, before anybody could say another single word, a yawn escaped from the eldest Cade's mouth, and Johnny started rubbing at his eyes with his balled up fists. It might've not been late at all according to teenagers, but after walking around town, you really couldn't blame Johnny for being tired.

"Looks like somebody could use some sleep." Soda smirked as he playfully ruffled up Johnny's hair, making the eldest Cade chuckle tiredly a bit as he playfully battered Sodapop's hand away. He knew that it was the truth.

"It's been a long evenin' for you, huh, Johnnycake?" Steve asked, smiling his rare grin, and Johnny nodded his head.

"Well, I think it's best actually if we all get some sleep. It may be only a bit after seven, but I have work tomorrow, as well does Kitty-Cat, Pepsi-Cola, and Stevie, and we'll all need our energy for yet another day." Darry lectured. Surprisingly, no one argued like usual. Ponyboy and Sodapop would both usually be whining and begging Darry to allow them to stay up longer, while Two-Bit would just find something to watch on TV with Dally smoking some cancer-sticks, Kitten starting to read yet another book, Steve zoning out on the TV as well, and the Cade's being the only one's actually listening to Darry about going to sleep. However, that didn't happen that night. Soda and Ponyboy headed right upstairs to change into their pajamas and dive into bed, leaving Darry to fetch some extra pillows and blankets for the rest of the gang to use, considering they were all staying the night that night.

Everyone slept on the floor, except Dally, who slept on the recliner with Jocelyn sleeping like a little angel on his chest, since Darry gently and carefully placed her there to sleep for the night. As for Johnny and Cassidy, they both slept on the Curtis's couch, covering up warmly with different blankets and drifting off into a deep sleep. After everyone settled down in the Curtis's bedroom, whispering their good-nights to each other, Darry headed upstairs, where he went right to his bedroom to change into a pair of his pajamas and go to sleep himself.

After many hours past, with the time striking 1:49 in the morning, at the Prescott's house, Sondra was twisting and turning, trashing wildly in her bed, trying to sleep, but continued failing, because all she could think about was her parents starting to argue about having a divorce, and one of them would take her while the other took Iris. That just couldn't happen! The mini 'gang' would lose a member, and Iris was a huge chunk of Sondra's life! She just couldn't be parted from her little kid sister.

Mr. and Mrs. Prescott's constant bickering and cursing at one another surprisingly took a break that night, but however, just because it stopped for one night, didn't mean it ended replaying over and over again in Sondra's head. She totally had enough of trying to sleep all alone in her house. It was pointless. With her parents drop-dead furious at each other and demanding a divorce, Sondra knew that she just couldn't stay at her house any longer. Same thing goes for Iris.

Quickly, but quietly, Sondra got out from her bed and trotted out of her room, taking no hesitation then to skip on over to Iris's bed, where the little blind girl was fast asleep in her own bed.

"Iris...Iris..." Sondra attempted just saying her kid sisters name to wake her up, but when that didn't work, Sondra began gently, but yet good enough at the same time, nudging Iris's shoulder, shaking her back and forth while she continued to say her name in a bit of a louder tone. "Iris! Iris! Wake up...Iris..."

Finally, Iris began to groan and moan a bit tiredly, her silver/white-colored eyes remaining shut, but you could tell that she was waking up. As Sondra finally stopped shaking her, and knelt down beside her bed so she could see her face to face, Iris let out a tired yawn. Sondra remained on her knees as Iris sat up tiredly in her bed, rubbing her eyes with her balled up fists. Anytime Sondra can't see her eyes, she always can see an ordinary little girl, but however, that instantly vanishes when she catches the fact that Iris is truly blind.

"...Son-I mean, Baby?" Iris caught her mistake just in a moment of time, and she knew that it must've been Sondra who was waking her up because her parents would never do such a thing, and Gabriel was the other one who would actually wake up his kid sisters whenever they slept in or whatnot, but he was dead.

"Yeah, it's me, Iris." Sondra nodded, trying her best to keep her own yawns hidden, so Iris wouldn't object to go back to sleep. She might've been only a kid, but she was a whole lot more sassy for her age.

Iris didn't care to allow herself to yawn as she gazed into the direction where she heard Sondra's voice, so they were now looking face to face. That same small **_crack _**sound echoed throughout Sondra's body. That broken sound was what Sondra claimed was her heart breaking a bit more, considering the fact that each time she witnessed Iris's eyes, she felt broken inside, as if it was her fault that Iris was blind.

"What time is it?" Iris questioned.

"1:52 in the morning." Sondra responded, and by the surprised look that formed on Iris's face with her mouth now slightly gawking open, and her grayish/whitish eyes widened, Sondra could tell that she was startled by that reply. But it was the truth.

"...Why'd you...wake me up...at _1:52 in the morning_?!" Iris actually snarled her last words after growling out the exact time that she was given. Sondra couldn't blame her from being stubborn and cranky at that moment though. Iris was the type who needed a whole lot of sleep if you wanted her to get through the next day completely, but presently, she was awaken very, very early in the morning.

"I'm sorry, Iris." Sondra pouted. She then sighed before going on. "But we must go someplace else. Mom and Dad are fighting too much, and we deserve better than this, don't you think so?"

Iris crossed her slightly bruised arms over her colorful pajama top, taking a moment to take in and digest Sondra's words. Believe it or not, Iris and Sondra were both a bit brokenhearted towards leaving their own house. That's where they did everything for each other throughout their years of life, and shared special and fun memories back when Gabriel was alive. Plus, they were leaving behind their own parents. Sure, their father was a total bitter drunk, and their mother was a violent drunk taker, but they were still their folks...the two people who made it possible for them to be brought into the world. Nevertheless, Sondra had enough of the arguing when overhearing her parents yelling about a divorce, and she knew that Iris must've heard them as well, but since Iris was just a kid, she didn't know what a divorce was.

"...Where would...we go?" Iris continued to stutter her words from her brain damage.

"...Well, anywhere is better than here, don't you think?" Sondra questioned. That instantly gave it away that she had no idea of where to go, and she and Iris both knew that they couldn't stay at any of her mini 'gangs' houses because it was obvious that if she said that she and Iris had to stay there for awhile, they'd get suspicious. A few days of sleeping over was alright in her mini 'gangs' eyes, but staying for weeks, and possibly months, day after day, night after night, it was pretty obvious that they'd know something was up.

"...Yeah...I guess..." Iris shrugged her shoulders. "Where are...we going though?"

"...I'll tell you when we actually get there." Sondra simply stated, not being able to keep her worried expression from forming upon her face, because she actually had no clue of where to go, but she didn't want to worry Iris over that.

Sondra helped Iris out of her bed, then started describing to her the different types of clothes of hers, so Iris could pick which ones Sondra would pack up in her little unicorn and rainbow kiddie suitcase. Iris ended up picking many skirts, shorts, tank-tops, and dresses, but Sondra snuck in some jeans, sweaters, T-shirts, and jackets. Of course, Sondra added in some more pajamas too. As for shoes, all Iris had were sandles and some boots. To finish off Iris's packing, Sondra fetched a couple of her top favorite, small stuffed animals, the picture of the two of them with Gabriel, and lastly, Iris's hair brush and tooth brush.

"You do have my Paws, right?" Iris concerndly and worriedly questioned, referring to her favorite stuffed puppy that she's had ever since she was first born. She was a kid here, so of course she'd be concerned if she didn't have one of her top favorite stuffed animals with her.

"Yes, I do. Don't worry, Iris. Paws is packed. Now, stay here while I go pack my bag quickly." Sondra instructed as she handed over Iris's pink and white cane after Iris had nodded her head, meaning she understood her older sisters order. After Iris grasped her cane, Sondra quickly trotted her way out of the room, then continued her way back into her own, where she instantly picked up her green and gold bag that had the 'Nature's First Green Is Gold' poem printed on it, and tossed it onto her bed.

No thinking had to be made. Sondra instantly packed up different T-shirts, pairs of jeans, some jackets, worn out sweaters, ripped up leggings, some short and some longer skirts, and some dirty tennis shoes and boots, including some more ordinary pajamas. As for things that weren't clothing, Sondra packed up her art notebook that contained much of her artwork and writing, and to finish her packing off, she got her own picture of her and Iris with Gabriel, her two necklaces that had _Gabriel _hanging as a charm on one, while the other had an 'S' charm dangling from its chain, and her tooth brush. Sondra decided to pack her hair brush too, even though she didn't feel like she needed it at all.

Sondra still had no idea about where she or Iris would travel. The streets of Tulsa are obviously not going to be an option in Sondra's book, but same goes for any of her mini 'gangs' houses. The Dingo was too dangerous and risky, while the movie theaters employees would call the fuzz if they witnessed someone sneaking around and staying there constantly. Sondra sighed to herself as she took one last gaze around her room, thinking that this was good-bye, but she didn't know for how long.

"Where...are...we going?" Iris asked when Sondra made it back to her bedroom and gently took a hold of one of her hands with her own free hand that didn't have her now packed bag swung over her shoulder.

Every time Sondra heard those questioning words stutter out of Iris's mouth, she grew more and more guilty, because she actually had no idea where they'd go, but she didn't want Iris to know that.

"I told you, you'll know when we get there." Sondra whispered "now shh and come on."

Quietly and carefully, the two female Prescott's tiptoed out of Iris's bedroom, continuing their way softly down the hallway, which is when Sondra reminded Iris to be extra careful since they were starting their ways down the carpeted staircase.

Like always, the downstairs of the Prescott's house was a plain mess, wrecked with shattered glass and different pills flown all over the place, along with rips torn all over the couches and patted chairs and drapes, while the heavy scents of tobacco and cigarette ashes danced throughout the air, and all kinds of different stains, mainly from Dominic's millions of beer blasts, covered the carpet. Some points, Sondra was thankful that Iris was blind, so she couldn't see how terrible their house looked, nor how furious her parents actions were towards her and each other. Nonetheless, Iris could still hear it all, as well as smell, which hit her just as hard as Sondra having full view of everything.

"Bye-bye, house..." Sondra could've sworn she heard Iris begin to sniffle as she said those three little words, and just hearing Iris begin to cry just a bit, Sondra couldn't help herself to allow some tears of her own to start forming in her pale blue eyes, then continue their ways streaking down her cheeks.

Sondra gently grasped Iris's hand a bit more, holding her close to her side as the two of them stepped out the front door of their house. Sondra had a hard time letting go of Iris's hand, considering the fact that Iris didn't want her to let go, but Sondra needed to close the door behind her, or else they could risk Spring and Dominic possibly finding out that they snuck out and left.

Standing still on the porch, Iris stared in the direction where she heard Sondra carefully and quietly close the front door all the way to their house. That's when Iris thought that then would be a good time to ask the question, "Will...will we ever...come back?"

Secretly, Sondra was surprised to hear such a question come out of her kid sisters mouth. Their parents were just plain harsh, cold, heartless, and down-right abusive, drinking and smoking their lives away completely, not giving a crap how they look, which is why they never care to brush their hair, brush their teeth, or even take showers often. All Spring and Dominic do is drink vodka, beer, and wine, take all kinds of different formed drugs, and smoke many different brands of weeds. Nonetheless, Sondra could see why Iris was so concerned on if they'd ever return. They both grew up in that house, being their for each other and keeping strong, standing high and hard as stone, fighting their absuive folks hurtful words and actions...but now...they were leaving it all behind. Forever? Just for now? Sondra actually didn't know the answer to that question either, and if there's one main thing Sondra hates doing, it's leaving a question unanswered.

Sondra sighed, her forehead now resting against the main door of the house, her hand beginning to jiggle a bit on the doorknob from having a hard time releasing it as she thought heavily about what she and Iris were doing. She dragged Iris into this, and now, Iris believed that they were going someplace when Sondra truly fibbed about having an idea about where to go. But it was a true fact when Sondra said that anywhere was better than her house.

"...Don't worry about that, Iris. Let's just get going." Sondra instructed her little sister, and before Iris could say a single word back, Sondra gripped her free hand, carefully dragging her along and helping her down the porch steps, and the two of them trotted with their packed things, very eager somewhat to get away from their house as the cool breeze whistled that very early morning, chilling the two Prescott girls as they continued their way away from their house.

"How far is...it to wherever...we're going?" Iris asked after about five minutes past from her and Sondra walking down the sidewalk in their pajamas that cool, breezy early morning.

"Not far." Sondra fibbed, considering she still had no idea where they were going to go. "And come on, Iris, we've only walked for about five minutes."

Iris didn't say anything back. That was her way of telling Sondra that she was correct.

After a couple more silent seconds between the two sisters, the quietness was broken when they heard a car horn suddenly being honked, and it was coming towards their direction down the road. Sondra's eyes shot huge as she shot her head over her shoulder, witnessing a sort of old white truck making its way over to her and Iris. Just as Sondra broke out of her shocked trance and was about to tell Iris to make a run for it, it was too late.

The truck had stopped on the road beside the two girls, and when Sondra shivered, forcing herself to see through the window who was behind the wheel...her eyes shot huge all over again, and her mouth dropped open as her heart took one heck of a major leap in her chest...she couldn't believe who was the driver of that car.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Who's the one driving the truck? Will Spring and/or Dominic realize their daughters no longer at home? Will Sondra and/or Iris ever return to their house? Find out all of these questions and more in the upcoming chapters! Please review! Thanks, everyone! :D :D :D :D**

**Also, be on the look out for my new "The Breakfast Club" fanfic, which'll be out soon, where I add a character of my own in the whole plot of "The Breakfast Club". Please check it out and review it when it comes out! Thanks! :) :) :) :)**


	31. Blackout

**A/N: ****I can't believe how far I've come in just these couple months of writing this story! I'm very thrilled for all of the reviews, favorites, and followers I've earned so far! I can't thank you all enough for all that has been done so far! Please keep it up with the reviews! Believe it or not, this story is close to wrapping up, but don't worry, because there _will _be a sequel! I'm aiming for no more than 10-15 chapters of this story left before it's totally finished. I'll be trying to work on the sequel then.**

**ALSO, I'm writing a "The Breakfast Club" fanfic, which has its prologue (_prologue_: the beginning that started everything) already posted. Please read and review my first ever "The Breakfast Club" fanfic! It means a lot! I bet everyone who's seen "The Breakfast Club" will adore it, and to those who haven't seen it, I first of all recommend it to be seen, and second of all, the fanfic will be enjoyed by you all in my opinion as well. Please read and review it! Thanks so much! :)**

**Now, after those messages, it's time for you all to enjoy chapter 31! Who's following Sondra and Iris in the white truck? Let's find out that and a whole lot more right now! Please review and enjoy! :D**

* * *

_Chapter 31_

There Sondra stood, frozen in her tracks as she gazed, lost and wide-eyed with her mouth gawking open widely at the white truck that was now parked there on the road beside the sidewalk that very early morning with Iris blankly staring in the same direction, mainly concerned on who and/or what was there after following the sound of the trucks engine mumble as it parked.

Sondra couldn't believe who she was seeing there in the truck that was following her and Iris. It was seriously thee last person Sondra would ever imagine driving by her and her kid sisters sides...there sitting behind the wheel, his tough hands clenching the wheel with his dark eyes focusing back out the window at Sondra and Iris both, as his light, light, blonde/almost white hair slightly dangled in his face, was none other than Dallas Christopher Winston.

Confusedly, Dally cocked an eyebrow, wondering deeply on the inside, secretly, why in the world Sondra and Iris were both out in town past 1:00 A.M. in their pajamas and with two packed bags with them. As much as Dally didn't want to admit it, on the inside, he knew for a hardcore fact that even though he wasn't the biggest fan of Sondra, he was starting to grow concerned over her and Iris, thinking heavily to himself that whatever they were doing right then must've had something to do with the secret that he just knew that Sondra was keeping from him, Johnny, and the rest of the Curtis's Greasers gang.

"Oh...my...god..." Sondra spoke out finally, not being able to help her words from slipping out in a surprised tone. Out of everyone she knew, the one driving the white truck and following her and her blind kid sister just _had _to be the number one top bad boy in all of Tulsa, and not only that, but he didn't like or even trust Sondra just because she was a Regular.

Iris crossed her arms over her chest, taking in Sondra's three words that she stuttered out in a half surprised/half nervous tone, but surprisingly, Iris wasn't scared at all. She wasn't nervous, nor worried either. All she was at that moment was absoluetly confused.

"What do you mean, oh my g-" Iris began repeating what Sondra just spoke about fifteen or so seconds back, but before she could finish what she was going to say, Sondra cut her off, saying the exact words, "Do not even _think _about finishing what I just said, kid sister!"

Sondra hated it when people repeated her words, especially Iris, considering most of the words that Sondra spoke weren't such kind ones. Nonetheless, she tried her best to watch her mouth around Iris.

"Is that how you two say hello?" Dally questioned, the passengers seat window now rolled down with the actual seat having Dally's left arm swung around it all coolly.

Iris knew that voice...she remembered it from when Sondra actually told Dallas to back off after they bumped into each other, and Sondra ended up telling Dally that she was blind, right before Sondra stomped past Dally, dragging her kid sister along after her. It's obvious that everyone in Tulsa completely understood who Dallas Winston was, but while pretty much everybody feared him, especially the little kids, Iris actually wasn't one to be afraid of him. You really couldn't blame her. She and Sondra were both raised by two absuive parents who treated them like crappy slaves and punching bags. Dally couldn't top that, considering this was just his second time seeing Iris, and he's only known Sondra for a few days, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Prescott to knowing their own daughters since they were both born.

"...Dallas Winston..." Iris quietly and softly spoke to herself under her breath, making sure Sondra and/or Dally wouldn't hear her speaking. Luckily, neither of them did, and Iris switched over from talking, to just chewing on her bottom lip a bit, keeping her slimly gritting teeth from being exposed. Iris didn't think Dallas was completely bad, but she didn't think he was good either. She had to get used to him, just like he had to get used to her since she's Sondra's little sister, and Sondra herself since he promised Johnny he'd attempt to do so.

"Dally, what are you doin' out here in town?" Sondra dared to ask, hiding her nervousness about Dally actually being there inside of her the best she could.

Just like Sondra was afraid of, all Dally did was form his annoyed scowl at her, narrowing his eyes in such a pointed manner as his cheeks suddenly brightened up into a shade of red, and his teeth slimly clenched just a bit behind his lips.

Sondra's mouth twitched into a nervous pout, as her eyes flashed into what was like a pleading puppy dogs eyes, and she held Iris closer to her side. Feeling how close she now was to her sister, Iris could tell that Dally must've been worrying her or something, and if there's one mistake you _do not _want to make towards Iris Prescott, it's messing with her older sis.

"She was just...asking a question..." Iris simply stated, maintaining her slight annoyance to herself, so she wouldn't make Dally even more annoyed and/or angry. Nonetheless, just because Dallas was glaring at Sondra like that on the outside, doesn't mean he was truly feeling that way at her on the inside. That's Dallas Winston for you. Normally, Dally could care less about little children, but it's obvious that he couldn't help himself to actually have a soft spot in his heart for kids like Iris, considering she's blind.

Dally wiped the annoyed look off from his face, giving Sondra then his thinking stare, remembering that she must've had a secret of some kind, while the other half of his mind actually told himself to listen to Iris's words.

"I don't know, just out on a stroll in Darry's truck that he loaned me, I guess. I was bored and decided to go for a drive." Dally explained, his voice in his usual tone, cool and simple.

Sondra didn't know what she could possibly say to that, so all she did was wipe her nervous expression off from her face and nod her head at Dally's words, while all Iris did was think about what Dallas just said, not bothering to say and/or do anything in return.

As the silence grew inbetween the two female Regulars and male Greaser, a sudden smirk curled up on Dally's lips, having a lightbulb flick on in his brain from getting an idea. No matter how much half of him hated his own idea that came to him, he knew it was the best thing to do in order to get some answers straight.

"I think it's best if you two get in the truck right now, so we can head back to the Curtis's." Dally instructed the two female Prescott's. At first, when all Dallas got in return was just Sondra's new slightly nervous stare, and Iris just tuning him out or something like that, Dally shot one of his hands pointer fingers at them in a sharp manner as he growled out the words, "If you two want to live, get in the truck!"

Nevertheless, even with Sondra feeling like her heart was about to burst from being squeezed so tightly by the nervous pressure that was building up inside of her, Iris actually formed a smirk upon her face, knowing for a fact that Dally was bluffing.

"What if we want to live..but don't want to..get in the truck?" Iris smartly questioned. Man, if she wasn't blind, Dally would've been chasing her down all the way across Tulsa with his switchblade, but whether Dally showed it at all, seeing how Iris could get sassy at times, it really made Dally begin to think that she was okay, but that wasn't going to have him wrapped around her finger at all, nor would he trust her just yet.

"Iris, shh!" Sondra hushed, whispering her words to her kid sister, but all Iris did was continue to smirk as she shrugged her shoulders simply, and as for Dally, he smirked again when thinking about what Iris just said to him. When Sondra turned her attention back over to Dally through the passengers seat rolled down window though, he made sure that his smirk was gone, so Sondra wouldn't see it.

Sondra took in a deep breath and allowed it to come out as a sigh, right before she nodded her head and said the exact words, "Alright, we'll come with you."

Dally's smirk curled back up on his lips as his eyes sparkled off satisfaction when Sondra walked over to the backseat door of Darry's truck and opened it up, helping Iris up into the comfortable backseat, right before she buckled Iris up, then sat Iris's suitcase and cane down in the back as well. Afterwards, Sondra slammed the backseat door shut, instantly opening up the passengers seat door, where she placed her own bag down on the floor of Darry's truck, and then hopped in, buckling herself up, then slamming the door closed after her.

Sondra truly didn't want to go with Dally, but it was pretty obvious that he wanted her and Iris both to climb into the truck and go with him back to the Curtis's house. That's the main thing that hooked Sondra into agreeing to go with Dally though. The Curtis's house seemed like thee perfect place for her and Iris to stay, if Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy allowed them to do so, that is. If they said yes, they'll stay for God knows how long. However, if for some reason they say no, Sondra hoped that she and Iris would find a different place away from their house to stay for quite some time.

Dally started driving again, the radio turned on quietly to some Elvis tunes a bit, and just like a simple snap of the fingers, Iris was fast asleep again, her head resting back in the soft backseat of Darry's truck with her mouth slightly hanging open as she breathed in and out softly to herself in her sleep. Sondra was beginning to feel a sick knot starting to tighten up in the pit of her stomach a bit from thinking now she was left alone with Dally with Iris now fast asleep. Both Sondra and Dallas kept peeking a bit back and forth at each other, one before the other without the other noticing at all. At that moment, Dally thought to himself that, that was a good time to have a little conversation with Sondra.

"...Hey...blondie." Dally addressed Sondra, not really caring at the moment to use her nickname since nobody else from the Curtis's Greasers gang was around.

Sondra slimly narrowed her pale blue eyes in a thinking manner as she forced herself to look directly at Dally, who glanced right back at her a couple times back and forth from her, to the road.

"...Yes?" Sondra said.

"Would ya care to explain why you and your kid sister are out here in town, past 1:00 in the morning, dressed in your pajamas and carrying some bags?" Dallas questioned, keeping his voice at his ordinary tone.

Sondra froze up, now completely worried when thinking about Dally's question. Why would he care though? That's all Sondra could really think to herself. Dally hated her guts. There was no way in heck that he could actually be concerned over her or anything like that...could he? Nonetheless, Sondra's worry vanished, and complete embarrassment took its place as she looked down at herself, remembering that she was dressed in a pair of her pajamas, and if there was one thing Sondra got absoluetly embarrassed over, it was boys seeing her in her pajamas.

Sondra kept her mouth shut as her face started beating red heavily. Dally cocked an eyebrow, knowing for a hardcore fact that she must've been thinking about whatever her secret was, and he could tell that she actually wasn't going to tell him out of all people, so Dally really didn't see any reason to attempt reasoning with Sondra about it. The last option Dallas had though was informing her on what was on his mind about this hidden secret. However, before Dally could open his mouth to speak a single word about him knowing that Sondra had a secret, he realized how red Sondra's face now was, and she had her right hand resting on her left shoulder, with her left hand relaxing against her stomach, meeting her right hip.

Dally could tell that she was embarrassed, and by the way she was blocking her pajama top a bit, he could sense it was because he was a guy, and she was a younger female dressed in her pajamas.

"Take the wheel for a second." Dally simply instructed.

"What?!" Sondra shot her eyes, that were now widened, towards Dallas, completely not expecting him to say _that_.

"I said take the wheel for a second." Dally repeated himself as he eyed Sondra for a moment, witnessing how shocked she looked towards his one direction.

"I'm only fourteen! I don't know how to drive!" Sondra exclaimed in a half nervous/half worried tone.

"First time for everything, blondie!" Dally began chewing on his bottom lip a bit so he could keep his annoyance locked inside of him, and he continued reminding himself in his mind his promise to Johnny.

"Are you insane?!" Sondra couldn't help herself to blurt that out, but instead of getting angry or anything, Dally actually couldn't blame her for asking that.

"I get asked that on a daily basis!" Dallas pointed out. "Now take a hold of the wheel just for a couple of seconds before I just release it for the truck to drive itself!"

At first, Sondra believed that he was only bluffing, considering the fact that Darry would have his head if he crashed his truck, but just as Sondra thought things couldn't get anymore shocking, Dally released the wheel from his grip, diving the upper part of his body into the backseat of the truck, where he began looking for something, the only thing keeping him from flying into the backseat being his seatbelt.

Sondra yelped, quickly gripping the wheel of Darry's truck and actually driving herself. Right after Dally released the wheel, Sondra took no hesitation to quickly take a hold of it herself, no matter how much she didn't want to. Anything was better than dying in a car crash at that time.

"What are you doing?!" Sondra commanded, keeping her wide and fearful eyes on the road, her body stretching over to the wheel from the passengers seat with her driving, waiting desperately for Dally to take over again.

"I'm getting something! Now if I could only find-oh, here it is!" Dally instantly came back fully into the drivers seat of Darry's truck, tossing over to Sondra without any cares, a blanket that Darry always kept in the backseat just in case.

Sondra let go of the wheel just as Dally threw the blanket in her direction, and since Sondra didn't see that coming, it hit her straight in the face. Good thing blankets were soft.

"Use that to cover you up." Dally instructed, now back in his spot again with being the one driving, secretly chuckling a bit quietly to himself when he witnessed from the corner of his eye, the blanket hitting Sondra in the face.

"Where'd you learn to drive?!" Sondra dared to ask, not taking any hesitation to listen to Dally's order, only because he got the blanket for her because he knew she was embarrassed because he was witnessing her in her pajamas.

"Actually, I never did learn how to drive. I just went with the flow over the years to get used to the process." Dally smirked in spite of himself. Wow, what do ya know, Sondra thought to herself. He actually smiles. Nonetheless, Dally then reminded himself about Sondra having a secret, and to solve the puzzle, he had to find out some more pieces, so he could fix the puzzle together and figure out whatever this secret was.

"Now, blondie...I think it's best if you know that I know you have a secret." Dally just came right out with it, stating the obvious. He could tell he had Sondra's attention when she turned away from him, no longer gazing at him face to face, and Dallas didn't want to force her to stare back at him again, so all he did was go on with what he wanted to say.

"You're very quiet...a bit _too _quiet...and you're very hesitant of others at first...you're simply described as clearly hesitant, super quiet, extremely sensitive, and plainly shy...it's pretty obvious that you're not spilling something, and I think since I'm one of Johnny's best friends, I have the right to know it." Dally lectured, this warning glance of his now dazzling off in both of his eyes.

Sondra could feel that tight knot in her stomach start pulling tighter and tighter, sicker and sicker. She began feeling chilly from knowing that out of all people, Dallas Winston was the one who was onto her, so she cuddled the blanket closer to her body. Her skin began feeling like it was starting to pale as white as a ghost, and complete worry started flooding her now slimly big, pale blue eyes, as her teeth slightly began to chatter behind her closed lips. Nevertheless, Sondra wasn't about to break. After all those years of keeping her secret, which was also Iris's secret, there was no way in heck she was actually going to spill her guts to anybody, especially Dallas. Believe it or not, Sondra was doing it to protect him, as well as the rest of the Curtis's Greasers gang.

"...I don't know what you're talking about, Dally." Sondra lied.

Dally shook his head. "Yes, you do. You know exactly what I mean. You know you have a secret that you're not telling me, Johnny, and/or the rest of the gang."

"I tell Johnny everything, Dallas. Minus my actual name, Johnny knows all about me." Sondra fibbed once again.

Dallas narrowed his dark-colored eyes a bit, saying the exact words, "Like I told Johnnycake, everyone in the universe has at least one secret, big or small, that they'd rather keep to themselves."

Sondra cuddled the warm blanket even closer to her body, shaking her head at Dally after digesting his words. "Not me, Dally. I don't got any secrets."

"Yeah, you do." Dally snarled "you'd best mark my words, blondie, because one way or thee other, I'll figure out this hidden secret of yours."

Sondra didn't bother to say anything back. She was too nervous to do so, now thinking heavily about what'll happen if Dally actually _did _find out the truth with hers and Iris's parents truly being plain absuives who smoke and drink their lives away 24/7. Even Sondra knew completely that whatever Dally said, it happened sooner or later, and when he promised her that he'd find out her secret no matter how long it took to discover, Sondra only had one thought hitting her at the time. She and Iris were doomed if Dally found out the truth somehow...but...why would he care about her keeping a secret in the first place?

About ten minutes later, Dally, Sondra, and Iris had made it to the Curtis's house, and just by looking at it, it looked like everyone was fast asleep. Sondra kept her eyes on the Curtis's house as Dally parked Darry's truck in the driveway, before he got out without saying a single word, just leaning against the outside of the truck now with his arms crossed over his chest, and this serious expression now written all over his face.

"Alright, you'd best wake up your kid sister, because I ain't playing Cinderella with either of you." Dally growled towards Sondra, who was still sitting in the truck and gazing at the Curtis's house until she snapped out of it from hearing Dally's words through the rolled down window. It was obvious that Dallas wasn't going to carry Iris, which is what he meant by him not playing Cinderella, so as much as Sondra didn't want to do it, she would have to wake up her little sister again.

"Would you mind just carrying our stuff then?" Sondra questioned Dallas, her voice somewhat pleading while the other half was somewhat serious.

Dally rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed-toned groan, but that didn't stop him from taking Sondra's bag that she handed him through the rolled down window, followed by Iris's suitcase and pink and white cane.

"Iris...Iris, come on, you have to get up." Sondra was now leaning inbetween the two front seats of Darry's truck, just like Dally was doing when he was getting her the blanket that was still wrapped around her body, and she was shaking Iris by nudging her hand on her shoulder. However, all she got from Iris was many tired moans and groans, and after being forced to wake up once that very early morning, it was obvious to Sondra that Iris wouldn't do it again.

Sondra sighed, right before she unbuckled her seatbelt, unaware of Dally, who was glancing at her with his eyebrow cocked through the rolled down drivers seat window, but when Sondra hopped out of the truck, he just gazed back at the things that he was holding. He wasn't dumb. He knew that Iris's pink and white cane was for her to use to get around, but since Dally didn't want to focus on the little Prescott's blindness, he focused mainly on the packed suitcase and other packed bag, knowing that something was obviously up.

"Would you care explaining to me now why you and your kid sister have these packed things of yours with you this very early in the morning?" Once again, Dally wasn't dumb, especially when asking Sondra that question. He knew when people were running away, considering he's done it enough times years before, but he didn't understand why too female Regulars, who Johnny said their folks were amazing since Sondra lied to him, would want to run away from such a great life with having it made and all of that. Nevertheless, Dally decided to keep that thought to himself. He knew that Sondra and Iris were running away, but he wanted to hear it from one of their mouths.

"Come on, Iris." Sondra softly whispered, which Dally slimly clenched his teeth to, because Sondra had acted like he didn't even speak as she carried on with getting Iris by unbuckling her seatbelt for her and picking her up in her arms, right before she closed the back door to Darry's truck behind them with her foot.

"How much weight does that girl contain?" Dally asked when realizing how much Sondra was struggling quite a bit to carry Iris. It wasn't because of Iris's weight at all. Iris was very light. It was because of the many bruises that were hidden underneath the fabric of Sondra's pajama sleeves.

"I don't know." Sondra simply stated, and that was pretty much the only truth she told Dally the entire time she and Iris were with him that very early morning.

"She don't look that heavy." Dallas pointed out, trying to hide the confusion and concern from showing in his voice, but he couldn't help some of it from slipping out.

"She's not." Sondra confirmed, not daring to look at Dally since she knew that he was already gazing at her and Iris.

The confusion and concern that Dally was trying to maintain in himself then flooded out all over his face, his eyes now sparkling off nothing but concern as he cocked an eyebrow, then began chewing on his bottom lip, hesitating a moment after taking in the two words Sondra just spoke.

"...Alright then." Dally shrugged his shoulders after about five silent seconds formed between him and Sondra. More silence then formed, nobody else daring to say a word as they traveled their way through the lawn and up the two stone porch steps of the Curtis's house. Since Sondra still looked like she was struggling quite a bit at carrying Iris, and also still because Iris was blind, Dally allowed himself to open the front door himself, right before he moved out of the way for Sondra to carry Iris on inside first.

After Sondra made it inside with Iris still being carried in her arms, Dally entered himself, instantly placing Sondra's and Iris's packed things down beside the stand that was there beside the Curtis's door when you first entered the house.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" A sudden male voice called out, it being there in the darkness of the Curtis's living room with Sondra, Iris, and Dally.

"Mathews! Stick a sock in it!" another male voice growled in a somewhat tired, but more annoyed tone.

Dally rolled his eyes, as Sondra only forced herself to grin a little after yelping softly to herself from not expecting anyone to be awake underneath the Curtis's roof.

"Relax, Fool of the Rings. It's just me." Dally uncaringly and coolly 'greeted', referring to Two-Bit as 'Fool of the Rings', right before he just flicked on the living room lights without any cares, causing all of the Greasers to moan and groan a bit, minus Jocelyn, who began crying only a little bit, but Cassidy instantly got up and picked her up from where she was, now tucked warmly underneath a blanket on the recliner.

"Dally? What are you doin' up at..what time is it?" Kitten asked, rubbing her eyes with her balled up fists after she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Past 2:00 A.M." Dally responded "and I was just out for a small stroll in town with Darry's truck, with his approval when I bumped into him when he was getting a drink of water in the kitchen, and guess who I bumped into when I was out on the drive. Baby and her kid sister."

Right then, it felt as if the tiredness had been clear knocked out of everybody in the room, and Johnny's face instantly started to turn to the shade of a bright, bright red when his black eyes met Sondra, who was now shyly grinning just a little, and her pale blue eyes were slightly now a bit bigger. The kiss that they shared was now plastered on both of their minds, but both of them didn't seem to mind at all.

"Baby? What were you and your little sis doin' in town this very early in the morning?" Cassidy questioned, rocking Jocelyn, who was no longer crying and sucking on her thumb, back and forth in a soothing manner in her arms, patting and rubbing her back gently a bit while doing so.

"And with two packed bags?" Steve added, cocking an eyebrow with absolute confusion as he eyed Sondra's and Iris's packed things.

"And what is that? A...cane?" Two-Bit questioned, his voice now full of shock quite a bit after realizing the pink and white cane that was leaning against Iris's unicorn and rainbow designed packed suitcase.

Sondra's shy grin instantly tugged off of her face, and a small pout took its place, not really wanting to answer any of the questions that she was recieving right then at all. However, Sondra knew telling everyone that it was nothing would just be a complete lie that the gang could each pick up with a single snap of the fingers, no hesitation at all, but Sondra knew that she'd have to say something.

Just as Sondra opened her mouth to say something, the three Curtis's entered the living room, yawning a bit and rubbing their eyes, dressed in their pajamas. Sondra took in a deep, but soft, breath from her mouth, then released it with absolute relief through her mouth as well, taking this as a moment where she could attempt to have someone else change the topic.

"What's goin' on down here? I have work in just a couple of hours!" Darry reminded, eyeing everyone with a single gaze around the room from where he was in the arch doorway with Sodapop and Ponyboy, but he instantly stopped and allowed his eyes to slimly grow big when they laid on Sondra and Iris.

"Baby?" Ponyboy said, surprised. "What are you doing here? And who's the little girl you're carrying?"

"My kid sister, Iris." Sondra only dared to answer one of the questions that Pony had asked her.

"Is anythin' wrong with her?" Soda concerndly questioned, his eyes just as big as Darry's now were when he realized that Sondra and Iris were there as well.

"_Well, she's blind..._" Sondra thought to herself with absolute guilt, but she knew that, that wasn't the type of 'wrong' that Soda was looking for. So, all Sondra did was shake her head, saying the exact words, "No, she's just asleep."

"...Is anything wrong with _you_?" Darry then asked Sondra, pointing out how her arms were trembling when she was holding the fast asleep Iris. Sondra could've sworn she felt one heck of a major leap in her chest from her heart taking a trip to China, and she thought she was feeling her skin color literally rushing out of her, leaving her pale and feeling sick from being hit with so much guilt, but she didn't want anyone to know the truth about hers and Iris's abusive folks.

"No, no...I'm perfectly fine." Sondra assured, but her voice was sounding not too convincing. But before anyone could dare open their mouths and point that out, Sondra quickly spoke up and came out with what she and Iris needed, saying the exact words, "Look, I know this must sound ridiculous, but Iris and I need a place to stay...our parents are out of town now and we hate to stay home alone, especially with us being labeled as Regulars. We're not allowed to have friends over, so we think it's best if we find a place to stay in the mean time..."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Soda cut Sondra off, now flashing his big, handsome, movie-star grin from ear to ear.

"Yeah, kid!" Two-Bit laughed "the Curtis's house is always open whenever somebody is reaching out for a place to stay! Ain't that right, Superman?"

Darry wanted to look serious at that moment, but he couldn't help himself to have a small smile tug up on his lips as he playfully rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, it's always open alright...whether we like it or not." Darry snickered in a joking manner, which recieved him a playful punch in the arm by Ponyboy, and his hair being ruffled up a bit by Soda, everyone in the room, minus Dally, Sondra, Iris, and Jocelyn, chuckling along with the Curtis brothers, knowing what Darry just said was actually the truth. All Sondra was doing was smiling, thinking to herself that, that was easier than she thought, but she was still feeling guilty a bit on the inside from lying to the Curtis's Greasers gang yet again.

Dally, however, didn't seem so convinced in Sondra's story about her parents being out of town. He could still tell that something was up. Usually, Dally would be able to let go of anything that was resting on his brain anytime he wanted, but with Sondra, there was just something that was keeping him linked onto her, knowing that she had a secret and still believing that he'd figure it out sooner or later, no matter how long it took...and what Dallas Winston promises he'll do, he'll do it alright.

"How long do you need to stay, Baby? You and your little sister, that is." Darry wondered.

Sondra shrugged her shoulders, now having a slight pout forming on her face as she said after pausing for a moment, "I don't know...a few weeks, I'm guessing."

"Didn't your parents tell you when they'd be back?" Johnny asked, those being his first words towards Sondra the entire time since she first entered the house.

"No." Sondra shook her head.

Confusedly, everyone in the room, except Dally and obviously Jocelyn, started exchanging their facial expressions, knowing that each of them were thinking the same thing. That was strange, to be exact. Well, Dally was gazing down at his dirty tennis shoes, one of his arms crossed over his stomach with his other hand scratching his chin, and his eyes were narrowed, which meant he was thinking just as hard as everybody else, but Dally was the only one who was seeing through the fact that somethin' wasn't right about Sondra.

Before anybody else could say another word, little Iris began to tiredly moan and groan, meaning that she was waking up. Carefully, plastering a small smile that was somewhat nervous upon her face, Sondra gently placed Iris up on her feet, holding onto her by her shoulders until she was able to gain her balence back after snoozing off on the car ride, which Sondra couldn't believe didn't cause Iris to wake up at all, nor come close to one bit.

"Iris, you're awake..." Sondra whispered into her kid sisters earring pierced ear.

"...Where are...we?" Iris questioned, rubbing her eyes for a couple of seconds until she gazed into the direction where she heard Sondra's voice. Dally began feeling that part of his heart that was soft for certain children crack a glowing light inside of him, but he wouldn't allow it to show for anyone else to see. Plus, it didn't change who he truly was. He would always be the biggest and baddest bad boy in all of Tulsa, but around certain kids like Iris, he would try his best to watch his attitude, which was all that really changed.

"Where we're goin' to be staying at for a few weeks or so...the Curtis's house." Sondra responded. Iris remembered hearing Dally say some stuff about the Curtis's house and the Curtis's Greasers gang before falling asleep in the back of Darry's truck, so that instantly gave the idea to Iris that Dallas was there with her and Sondra, as well as the rest of the Curtis's Greasers gang.

"Hi, Iris. Baby's told me a lot about you." Johnny was the first one to say something to greet Iris, while everyone else exchanged some smiles, some wider than the others, except Dally, but all of the smiles instantly faded when Iris slowly turned herself around in the direction where she heard Johnny's voice, which was coming from over at the Curtis's couch. Everyone in the gang allowed their eyes to shoot huge as their mouths dropped open, some of them yelping quietly to themselves, while others kept themselves quiet, needing to force the gasps to stay inside.

"But...not that..." Johnny quietly whispered to himself, rubbing his hands together in a worried manner after realizing the color of Iris's eyes. White/silver like...blind.

"I take it...that you're Johnny Cade?" Iris stuttered a bit.

"...Yeah..." Johnny was trying his best to sound ordinary, so he wouldn't be rude towards Iris, but she could tell that everyone in the room was startled to realize the truth behind her eyes. It pretty much happened each time she met somebody knew, considering Sondra never really tells anyone the truth about her being blind.

"Nice to meet you, Johnny...Baby's told me...a lot about you, too." Iris smiled, not really caring how shocked everyone was about her blindness. It's happened a lot before. "And don't worry...I know it's shocking about...my blindness..."

"...Yeah, it is." Two-Bit nodded with absolute agreement. "So _that's _why you have a pink and white cane with you!"

"Yep...what's your name?" Iris questioned.

"Keith Mathews, but everyone calls me Two-Bit." Two-Bit introduced himself, growing his wide and goofy smile, as if he was never shocked over discovering Iris's blindness. Iris's smile grew bigger and cuter, causing everyone's shock to really drain away, which certainly surprised Sondra. Apperently, if Iris could care less about being blind, and if she always knew how everyone grew startled when witnessing the color of her eyes, the gang calmed down.

"Nice to...meet you, Two-Bit." Iris spoke up.

Two-Bit gazed over at Sondra, saying the exact words, "I like her!"

At least that brought a small smile to Sondra's face, and it caused a few chuckles to escape from Iris's mouth.

Suddenly, before anyone could say another word at all, the lights instantly turned off, and everyone gasped, except Iris, considering all she could see was the color of snow white.

"Who turned off the lights?" Cassidy asked, holding Jocelyn closer to her chest in the darkness.

"Dally..." Darry growled, his tone warning.

"It wasn't me!" Dally objected, flying both of his bare hands up to his shoulders in a defensing way, even though no one could see him.

Darry rolled his eyes, believing that Dallas was pulling his leg or something, but when Darry carefully and slowly made his way over to the window, and he pushed the closed drapes out of his way so he could see outside, the street lights were all flicked off as well, which was strange because they always stay on each night and early morning, until the sun starts to rise up. Then, that's when it struck Darry. There was only one last option left of why the lights were all off.

"Ah, crap..." Darry sighed "looks like we're goin' through a blackout."

"How is there a blackout _this _early in the morning?!" Steve objected, his voice full of annoyance then, but all Darry did was shrug his shoulders, even though no one could witness him do so.

Without waiting another moment, about two minutes later, Two-Bit had took over with lighting up all kinds of different green, red, and white Christmas candles that he laid out in the Curtis's kitchen, living room, and downstairs bathroom, filling the house with all kinds of Christmas sents, but on the bright side, the house was actually lit a bit on the inside, and on the outside, the darkness of the early morning surrounded them.

"There we go. Now, we have light." Two-Bit grinned goofily, but when he was greeted by the many faces that made him feel like he was a freak, he wiped his goofy smile right off from his face.

"Christmas candles, Mathews? _Really_?" Dally asked through his slightly gritting teeth with a single roll of his eyes added in as well.

"Hey, don't blame me!" Two-Bit held his hands innocently up to his shoulders. "These were the only candles the Curtis's household actually held, so...merry early Christmas, everyone." Two-Bit's smile flashed back onto his face as he took his seat back down on the floor.

"...And a happy New Year." Sondra muttered to herself under her breath with a little grin tugging at her lips, but when she thought no one had heard her, she was proven wrong when she heard Johnny chuckling a bit to himself.

"So...what do we do now?" Pony asked. Everyone had the tiredness that was eating at them before now completely knocked out of them completely, so it was obvious that none of them could go back to sleep.

"Do you guys have any Pepsi?" Sondra asked.

"Yeah, we do." Darry nodded his head.

"Mind if I have one?"

"Help yourself, Baby."

Sondra grinned at Darry, who smiled back in response, and before trotting off to the dim kitchen that was filled with some candle light as well, she helped Iris take a seat. Afterwards, she was in the kitchen. A sudden smile curled up on Johnny's mouth a little.

"I'm a bit thirsty myself. Is there any Coke?" Johnny questioned.

"Yep. Go right on ahead, Johnnycake. You can have one." Soda said, giving the eldest Cade his famous, world-wide, handsome smile. Johnny grinned back at him and nodded his thanks, right before he stood up from where he was sitting, then vanished into the kitchen, where he saw Sondra digging through the dark fridge, until she popped back out with a Pepsi can in her hand.

"Can you hand me a Coke, please?" Johnny's face started heating up to a bright, bright red again as he smiled, remembering the embracing and tender kiss that happened between him and Sondra. At first, Sondra was surprised, staring at Johnny from not expecting him to appear in the kitchen with her after sharing such a friends night out with him the night before, and with the rest of the gang all in the living room. Nonetheless, a smile came upon Sondra's face, which was starting to glow up to the same shade of a bright, bright red that was stained on Johnny's face.

Not saying a word though, her grin saying it all, Sondra dug into the Curtis's fridge again, then popped her other hand over to Johnny a couple of seconds later, handing him a can of Coke before she closed the fridges door.

"...You're a good kisser." Sondra came right out and quietly spoke the first words that popped into her mind, and considering that she was remembering hers and Johnny's kiss, those words were the first ones that popped into her mind. Johnny stared at her, now wide-eyed with his face beating more and more red, but that didn't stop him from smiling again.

"...Thank you...you're a pretty tuff kisser yourself." Johnny shared his opinion. At that moment, Sondra felt like she was melting, grinning shyly at the oldest Cade as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, which was slightly red to match the color upon her face.

"...You were my first kiss, Johnny." Sondra admitted, now feeling embarrassed a bit on the inside from admitting that, but she couldn't to grin a little. Nonetheless, her embarrassment didn't last long, because to her surprise, Johnny said the exact words, "Well, that makes two of us."

"What?!" Sondra gasped quietly, making sure she wasn't loud enough for the gang to hear.

"...You were my first kiss as well, Baby." Johnny shared "I've never kissed a girl before in my life."

Sondra couldn't believe what Johnny was seriously saying. He deserved so much better than her in her mind, but yet, his first kiss was with her. _Her_. Such a kind and caring Greaser with a tuff personality and a golden heart, along with amazing looks to top it off. Sure, Sondra could understand completely why she never had her first kiss with any other boy, but how could Johnny actually...Sondra just didn't understand.

"I find that hard to believe, Johnny...you're such a great guy." Sondra said.

"Well, you're such a lovely gal, Baby...and it's best if you believe it, because it's the truth." Johnny informed "...hey...Baby, you know that dance that's comin' up in just a couple of weeks?"

"...Yeah, why?"

"I've been meaning to ask you..." Johnny sighed, blushing a whole lot more. "...Would you care...to go with me?"

Sondra stared, now completely wide-eyed at the oldest Cade, frozen like a rock from having such a hard time believing what question Johnny just asked her. Sondra wasn't even thinking about going to that dance, because she hated dresses for one thing, but also because she was a Regular that got made fun of by everyone just because she tried her best to fit in with who she was, but all she got was pushed away and called an outsider.

"...You...you want _me _to go with you to the formal dance?" Sondra asked, stunned.

Still blushing heavily, Johnny nodded his head. "I figured it'd be fun...I started thinking about it before I fell asleep."

Apperently, in Sondra's mind, hers and Johnny's feelings towards each other had suddenly shifted after they ended their friends night out with that kiss, but both of the teenagers still didn't understand if that kiss meant anything.

Sondra hesitated, seeing the slight fear of being rejected now starting to glow in Johnny's eyes, but before Johnny could open his mouth to say "Nevermind." or somethin' like that, Sondra smiled and said the exact words, "I'd be honored, Johnny...just as friends though, right?"

"Of course." Johnny answered, nodding his head with that big, handsome smile now plastered on his face, and his black eyes were instantly dancing with joy. Well, it was stated tons of times to the two teens that they didn't know if that kiss meant anything.

"I need a formal dress though." Sondra pointed out.

"We can go shopping for one when mornin' comes." Johnny offered, but the oldest female Prescott shook her head.

"No, we can't."

"How come?"

Sondra sighed. "We don't have anybody to watch Iris. Darry's going to be at work, Soda, Steve, and Kitten need to go to work at the DX as well, Ponyboy is going to go catch that movie we saw-"

"Don't worry, Baby." A sudden smirk curled up on Johnny's face, meaning he had an idea. "I got somebody in mind who can watch Iris."

"Well then, if that's so, we will be able to go dress shopping in the morning." Sondra approved, taking a sip of her Pepsi after speaking.

"Good, because I need to get myself a tux anyway."

After wrapping up that conversation, Johnny and Sondra both headed back into the living room, where everyone else in the gang, including Iris and even Dally, was sitting in a circle on the floor, kind of like what different friends in those movies do when hanging out that the gang had watched together in the past. Sondra and Johnny joined in the circle, both sitting next to each other. Not knowing what else to do during the blackout, the gang decided to just start asking each other random questions for about fifteen minutes.

"What would I do for all of the money in the world?" Soda snickered when repeating the random question that he was given by Two-Bit.

"Well, you'd be forced to be labeled as a Soc, for one thing." Dally grumbled.

Sodapop had to agree to that, nodding his head, but he shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing how to answer the question in a good way, so all he said was that he'd buy all of Tulsa.

"Hey, Johnnycake..." Steve addressed.

"Yeah?"

Steve smirked, asking him the exact question, "Who was your first kiss?"

Johnny's eyes shot huge as his face started warming up again, and his heart started beating heavily, over and over again in his chest, while Sondra looked down at her bare feet, hiding her nervous expression the best way possible by not looking anyone in the eyes.

"Um...uh..." Johnny gulped "...I actually never...had my first kiss yet."

"Lies!" Ponyboy laughed, throwing a pillow from the couch at Johnny, which hit him in the chest, causing a small smile to form on his face as some snickers escaped from his lips, and everyone else laughed, except Dally, who was cleaning the dirt out from underneath his nails with his switchblade, and Sondra, who was only grinning just a bit.

"No, no." Johnny chuckled "it's the truth."

"How is that possible, Johnny?" Kitten asked.

"The kid hates datin', remember?" Two-Bit reminded, which Kitten shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head to.

"I do not hate dating...I just never found the right gal is all." Johnny explained.

"Hm..." Darry grinned "Baby...what about you? Who was your first kiss?"

"My dating life is screwed." Sondra rolled her eyes, not being able to help herself from doing so there.

"Huh?" Soda confusedly cocked an eyebrow and scratched the back of his neck.

"I've never kissed anyone in my entire life either is what I'm saying. After breaking up with Joshua, I figured my dating life should take a break." Sondra explained.

"Alright, this is boring!" Dally rolled his eyes, growling his words through his slightly clenched teeth. "Can't we do somethin' else?!"

"Like what? We're in the middle of a blackout." Steve reminded.

"Steve's right, Dally...and besides, I need to tell you somethin'." Johnny said, which instantly had everyone hooked, whatever this was he had to tell Dally.

"Oh, really?" Dally questioned.

Johnny nodded his head, grinning as he tucked some of his heavily greased bangs away from dangling in front of his eyes.

"What is it?"

"Well, Baby and I are headin' out somewhere tomorrow, and she needs someone to watch Iris..." Johnny formed a smirk, then adding, "...since everyone else is busy, Dally..."

Dally's eyes grew big a bit as he paled a little, knowing exactly what Johnny had in mind.

"Oh, don't do it!" Dally pleaded Johnny, even though his voice sounded more like he was complaining.

"Baby," Johnny looked over at Sondra. "Dally will babysit Iris!"

"...So he does it!" Dally moaned, smacking his hand straight onto his forehead, then running it up through his hair, shagging it up a little. "What can I do with a little one like her?!" Dallas pointed his thumb over to Iris, his words quietly being spoken, hoping Iris couldn't hear him.

"Just watch her." Johnny shrugged.

"The girls blind!" Dally reminded, his voice rising a bit, but not much.

Iris narrowed her eyes a bit after hearing Dally say that. She knew it was the truth, so she wasn't angry, but was getting a little annoyed. "Blind, yes...deaf, no." Iris smartly spoke up, which certainly got Dally to shut his mouth. All he did was cross his arms over his chest and release a sigh for everybody to hear, while he blew some of his bangs out of his face, which meant he was giving in, allowing himself to go through having to watch Iris the next day.

After that, before Dally could even come close to suggesting something like looting to do, Darry quickly went to fetch his guitar that used to belong to Mr. Curtis when he was alive, which was in the downstairs closet. When Darry returned, he handed the guitar over to Kitten, who knew how to play the guitar greatly and amazingly, as well as singing with perfection.

Believe it or not, it was like a dance party broke out in the Curtis's house, everyone twirling, spinning, swaying, and doing much more, like hopping even, as they each did different dances, mainly half of them just being made up dances that the gang each created different steps the entire time, while Kitten sang different songs like, "Don't You Forget About Me", "We Are Not Alone", "We Are Who We Are", and whatnot.

That certainly made everyone fall back asleep with no trouble at all after their big dances and singing, and the next day would be containing something certainly surprising...Dally babysiting a little girl...but not only a little girl...but a blind little girl who could be stubborn and sassy a whole lot.

**A/N: Another cliffhanger! Man, Dally's goin' to be babysitting Iris...how will that work out? Dally's not the babysitting type at all...but there's a first time for everything...will this first time possibly be his last when it comes to babysitting? What will all happen? Find out in the upcoming chapters! Please review! Thanks, everyone! :D :D :D :D**

**Please remember to read and review my "The Breakfast Club" fanfic as well! I'm workin' real hard on that story for you all, too! Please, please read and review it! It means a lot! Thanks again, everybody! :) :) :) :)**


	32. Rules to Babysitting

**A/N: ****I'm very thrilled for all of the reviews, favorites, and followers I've earned so far! I can't thank you all enough for all that has been done so far! Please keep it up with the reviews!**

**ALSO, I'm still writing a "The Breakfast Club" fanfic, which has its first few chapters already posted. Please read and review my first ever "The Breakfast Club" fanfic! It means a lot! I bet everyone who's seen "The Breakfast Club" will adore it, and to those who haven't seen it, I first of all recommend it to be seen, and second of all, the fanfic will be enjoyed by you all in my opinion as well. Please read and review it! Thanks so much! :)**

**Now, after those messages, it's time for you all to enjoy chapter 32! What'll happen with Dally babysitting Iris? Let's find out that and a whole lot more right now! Please review and enjoy! :D**

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_Chapter 32_

"Tell me again why I'm actually agreeing to do this?" Dally asked Johnny as the next day arrived, the blackout now over and the sun shining in the clear blue sky without a single cloud in sight. The clock was close to 10:45, and Johnny was just about to leave with Sondra to head over to the mall so they could buy a dress and a tux for their school's formal dance that was a couple of weeks away. Darry was already off at work, same goes for Kitten, Sodapop, and Steve, while Ponyboy went to the movies to catch the film that Johnny and Sondra went to see on their friends night out. As for Cassidy and Jocelyn, Ponyboy agreed to take them with him to the movies, and lastly, Two-Bit...actually, nobody knows where the wisecracker went, but he wasn't at the Curtis's house anymore.

"Because I told Baby you'd watch Iris for her while the two of us went out for something." Johnny responded, pulling on his blue-jeans jacket and fixing its collar around his neck, his innocent black eyes remaining on Dallas, who was just staring at him, this uncaring facial expression plastered on his face with a cancer-stick hanging out of his mouth, and his hands were jammed into his worn out jeans pockets.

"But why'd you have to choose me to be stuck babysittin' a blind kid?" Dally demanded to know, which Johnny instantly shushed him towards, because Sondra was only in the kitchen, explaining the rules and how to behave when Dally babysits her while she and Johnny head out to the mall.

"There was no one else available besides Two-Bit and...no offence to him, but he's Two-Bit. He'll properly blow up the house." Johnny informed. Dallas wished he could've objected to that, but he knew that there was no way possible that he actually could. Johnny was correct. If Two-Bit could catch many things on fire just when he's by the Curtis's stove, or break tons of lamps by tossing a ball around, then it was pretty obvious he'd properly blow up the whole Curtis's household if he was left alone to babysit a blind little child.

"And just think, Dal," Johnny went on, "Iris is Baby's kid sister. Babysitting her will help you get a better image of Baby, and you promised me you'd try to get used to her for me."

"...I can't argue with that," Dally shrugged his shoulders, "but are you sure this Iris will be good with me?"

"She's a little kid, Dally. I doubt she'll be any trouble. As long as you do what she asks, considering she's blind also, then there shouldn't be any issues at all to deal with." Johnny explained.

Dallas took a drag from his cigarette, blowing out a perfect smoke ring before talking again. "Oh, great...I might be stuck playing dolls and tea party for these long hours." He ended up groaning, rolling his eyes while he was at it. Johnny failed with wanting to point out the irony that Dally doesn't mind doing any of that stuff with Jocelyn or other types of games and whatnot with Cassidy, but he doesn't want to babysit Iris.

"Come on, Dal. Just try to find a bright side to this, please? I promised Baby you'd do this, and besides, Soda, Kitten, and Steve should be home from work around 3:00, Darry should be back by 4:00, and Ponyboy's going to take Cassidy and Jocelyn to play at the park for a few after the movie, so they'll be back 'round when Kitty-Cat, Pepsi-Cola, and Stevie get back from their hours at the DX today. Two-Bit should most likely appear from God knows where he went when they all get back here." Johnny explained everything that he could, trying his best to convince Dally that everything will be fine and that the babysitting would fly by, but however, Dallas didn't seem to change much. He still was taking drags of his weed, blowing out more smoke rings with his uncaring look still plastered right on his face.

"What about you and Baby?" Dally asked.

"We'll try to get back by noon, but it just depends how long we'll take to get where we're going and how much time we spend there before we come back," Johnny replied "now, I know you're not too hot with kids, unless they're babies or my little sisters, but for Baby, can you please be on your best behavior?"

"I'd do nothin' for Baby." Dally shook his head, popping his cigarette back in his mouth and taking a drag of it after speaking. Johnny sighed, crossing one of his arms over his stomach, but he used his other hand to give Dally a few pats on his shoulder as he told him, "Well, do it for me then."

Dally couldn't say no to that. He can't ever go against Johnny's word, same goes for Cassidy's, and when Jocelyn starts talking, he won't be able to go against her word either. Anytime somebody ever attempted objecting to any of the Cade's, Dally would shoot them a death-mock stare that was daring them to turn down the Cade's words. After recieving that look, they're most likely to shut themselves up.

"Alright, fine. I'll do it for you." Dally caved in, which made Johnny instantly form a smile. Dally tried not to have a grin twitch at the edges of his mouth in return, but he couldn't help it when seeing Johnny being the one smiling at it. Dallas snickered a bit, playfully ruffling up Johnny's hair, which had him instantly chuckling along as he playfully battered Dally's hand away, starting to fix his heavily greased jet-black hair afterwards to make it look good as new again.

Just then, as if on que, Sondra entered the living room from the Curtis's kitchen, Iris trailing after her with her cane smoothly running against the tile that then turned into carpeted floor. Dally instantly made his rare grin vanish from his face when his eyes met Sondra and Iris. That's when Dally realized Sondra was eyeing his cigarette, so he rolled his eyes and put it out in the ashtray that was on the stand next to the recliner.

"And the troture begins..." Dally muttered to himself under his breath, thinking that no one could've heard him, but he was proven wrong when Johnny elbowed him in the ribs.

"So, Baby, are you ready to go?" Johnny questioned, flashing one of Sondra's his rare, cute smiles, hoping to death that he wasn't turning red. Sondra grinned shyly back at him as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde behind her earring pierced ear.

"Yeah, I'm ready," She then nodded, "I just finished explaining the rules to Iris, and now she knows how to be on her best behavior when Dally babysits her."

Dally crossed his arms over his chest, fixing his eyes on the youngest Prescott as Johnny and Sondra decided to look at her too, but they only found Iris starting to attempt rising her cane off from the floor, but her attempts were disolved when Sondra grasped the pink and white cane, exclaiming out "Ah! Ah! Ah!", and she touched the end of Iris's cane back to the floor.

Dally's eyes, that were now widened a bit, were now full of concern. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Iris, I told you," Sondra stated in a stern tone, which Iris really didn't mind, "You're _not _allowed to swing your cane around, nor are you allowed to pick it up from the floor!"

"...Um..." Dally spoke up, which instantly had Sondra's and Johnny's eyes glued back on him, but all Iris did was stare down at the floor, tapping her cane a bit to the carpet, getting the feeling that she was now in the living room of the Curtis's house. That's a special idea Iris has of her own. Being blind, she can't tell what room she's in, so she taps the end of her cane on the floor, hearing if it gives off an echoing sound from tile or wood, or just leaves things silent, like carpet.

"She's not going to beat me with that thing at all, is she?" Dallas pointed at the pink and white guider cane, which instantly made him recieve a swat in the arm by Johnny, which Dally didn't really mind.

"No, of course not. She only beats others with her cane when she's jumped, which rarely happens," Sondra responsed "anyway, we should get going, Johnnycake."

"Yeah, the faster you two get where you're going, the faster my babysitting will be finished." Dally rolled his eyes in an annoyed manner.

"Dally!" Johnny swat Dally's arm again.

"Force of habit." Dally shrugged his shoulders, the tone of his voice ordinary and cool. Johnny only gave Dally a stare before he formed a smile back at Sondra, telling her to come on.

"I'll be back in a few, Iris," Sondra gave her little sister a kiss on top of her head, stroking her hair a bit while she was at it. "Be good to Dally now." Sondra added, just as she started making her way to the front door with Johnny leading the way.

"I will..." Iris nodded her head.

"Great." Sondra smiled proudly at her kid sister, before she forced her grin to stay on her face when she looked at Dally, who didn't grin back. Sondra was still a little afraid of him. "Thanks for doing this, Dally." The oldest female Prescott thanked.

"It's not like I had a choice," Dallas rolled his eyes in an uncaring manner, "but whatever, you're welcome." He shrugged his shoulders then when he spoke his word 'whatever'.

"We'll see you in a few, Dally." Johnny informed, taking a gentle hold of Sondra's hand and walking her out the front door with him from behind.

"Yeah, see ya then!" Dallas called out before the door slammed shut behind the two teenagers. Dally fixed his eyes back on Iris, seeing her silver/gray eyes gazing back at him from following the sound of his voice.

"Uh..." Dally stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets, "...What do you like to do, kid?"

Honestly, Dallas could've cared less, but there was some feeling tugging in a certain part of his heart when his eyes remained on Iris, even though he'd never admit it. Nonetheless, all Iris did was stare blankly at him, as if she didn't hear the question that just came out of his mouth.

"...Kid?" Dally confusedly cocked an eyebrow when not getting any type of response.

"...The name isn't 'kid'...it's Iris..." Iris hesitated before speaking, folding her hands together, both still clenching her cane.

"Alright then, Iris," Dallas stated "didn't you hear what I just said?"

"...I'm blind...not deaf..." Iris pointed out, which Dally rolled his eyes to right after he caught and grasped her words, because he remembered her saying something like that to him the night before. Nevertheless, Dally was trying to find a bright side, like Johnny politely asked him to, and Dally sooner discovered that it was a good thing that Iris was at least responding to him.

"I know, I know," Dally shook his head, "but I was just wondering since you didn't answer me. Do you play any card games?"

"...I'm blind, what do you think?" Iris stubbornly hissed, her teeth slightly clenching for Dally to see, which he confusedly cocked an eyebrow to once more, and his eyes flooded with absolute confusion.

"...Okay, so card games are out-" Dally began speaking, but the youngest female Prescott cut him off before he could finish.

"Ya think?!" She somewhat exclaimed. Dally's eyes narrowed, but he took in a deep, but yet soft breath, then let it out, both through his mouth as he ran one of his hands through his almost white hair.

"Kid-"

"Iris!"

"Whatever!"

Dallas was starting to clench his own teeth a bit, but he bit his tongue, keeping his anger held back from remembering two things. One, his promises to Johnny, and two, Iris was a blind little kid.

"Iris..." Dally sighed "I'm trying to reason with you here. Can you please tell me somethin' you like to do?"

"...Play dolls..." Iris responded.

"_Of course_!" Dallas bellowed in his head, but out loud, he spoke, "What else is there?"

"...Reading..."

"_What the hell?! She's blind_!" Dally didn't want to ask her how the heck she reads with her being blind and all, so the only words that came out of his mouth were, "What else you got?"

"...Talking...just simply chatting about whatnot...feelings and all of...that..." Iris explained.

"..._Feelings, huh? I hate being stuck babysitting and having to deal with a child like some teenage father! There, those are my feelings_!" Dally rolled his eyes in plain annoyance towards all of the things Iris told him that she liked to do, and he couldn't believe he'd most likely have to do all three of them for God knows how long in the passing hours.

"...Do you watch movies of any kind? Horror? Comedy? Anything?" Dally questioned.

"...I'm blind!" Iris reminded, her tone starting to sound like it was growling from much of her own annoyance that was screaming and eating at her from all of these ridiculous questions that Dally was asking her.

"Okay, that's it! Let's cut the crap," Dallas had enough. His voice was now stern, and his eyes were narrowed in a sharp manner, with his teeth clenched together and face also starting to beat red. He had enough of Iris's attitude towards him, and they've only been alone for about five or so minutes.

"Look..." Dally snarled "I'm not a big fan of you, and you're certainly no big fan of mine. Nonetheless, we're goin' to be stuck all alone with each other for all these hours, so if we don't want to get each other killed by the time everybody gets back, then I suggest you quit your no-good attitude!"

"You have an attitude..yourself!" Iris's gray/silver-colored eyes narrowed. Dally was growing ticked, but some of him at the same time had pity for the little blind girl, whether he admitted it or not.

"I'm only usin' mine so you'll quit with yours! And don't you even _think _about tellin' me that adding fuel to the fire makes things worse or anything like that! I'm just sick with how you've been givin' me lip, and we've only been alone for about five or so minutes!" Dally lectured "I'm just trying to find out things we can do to make the time fly!"

"Well, you're not..doin' such a..good job!" Iris exclaimed.

"You think I don't see that?!" Dallas bellowed, but just as he witnessed Iris open up her mouth to most likely say something that was quite sassy back to him, he shot one of his pointer fingers at her, truly knowing that wouldn't do him anything since she was blind, and he snarled out, "Don't answer that!"

Iris continued having her mouth hang open for a few more seconds, acting as if she wasn't going to listen to Dally's order and speak up, but all she actually did was take in a deep breath before blowing her bangs out of her face. Dallas ran his hands back and forth through his light, light blonde, almost white hair, grumbling to himself under his breath that he was doing this for Johnny and that he could handle this, even though he knew that him and Iris weren't both such fans of each other yet...and only God knew if they would get used to each other sooner or later.

"Let's just sit on the couch," Dally instructed after he took in a deep breath and let it out, both through his mouth, in order to cool off and remain calm, before he walked behind Iris, her head turning after him and eyes remaining on him from following the sounds of his footsteps, until he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, escorting her over to the Curtis's couch, which is when he sat her down and took her cane out of her hands, leaning it against the coffee table before he sat down on the couch besides Iris, the two of them dead quiet and just staring at each other. This seriously must've went on for about five minutes straight until Iris finally spoke up.

"Dallas? Are you still...in the room?" Iris questioned.

"Yes, I'm sitting right besides you, Iris," Dallas responded "and remember that everyone calls me Dally for short."

"Dally...can I ask you something?" Dally seriously wasn't in the mood to answer some little kid's question, which would possibly lead up to even more questions piling up on him, but after giving the youngest Prescott an arguement before sitting her down on the couch, where the two just had what was like a silent staring contest for five minutes straight, Dally figured 'what the hell?', and he locked his hands behind his head as he leaned back on the Curtis's couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, but his eyes remained on Iris.

"Sure, just shoot it." Dally responded, referring to the question that Iris wanted to ask him. When Dally told somebody to 'shoot it', he was truly meaning for them to just get it over with, like you're just ripping off a band-aid.

"...What do you...look like?" Iris asked.

Confusedly, Dally cocked an eyebrow at Iris's question. He figured it'd be something extremely girly and boring, but instead...all she was asking was what he looked like.

"Um..." Dally turned over in Iris's direction, her eyes gazing right at his face from following his voice, with his right leg now curled up underneath his other leg, which dangled off the couch, and one of my arms rested on the back of the couch, while my other arm laid across my stomach. I explained everything from my light, light blonde, almost white hair, to my dark-colored eyes and skin color, whether or not I had any blemishes or freckles, and giving detail on what the clothes I was wearing looked like. That killed about two minutes, and whether Iris was still listening or not, which she was, Dally was actually glad she asked that question.

Who knows, Dally thought to himself...maybe watching the kid won't be so bad...but will he be corret, or not?

**A/N: Please review and stay turned for the next chapter! Who knows what'll happen when Dally continues to babysit, and maybe even sneak a peek at what's going on with Sondra and Johnny! Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	33. Lunch Time And The Perfect Dress

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's that this story is almost finished, please review, and thank you all! Enjoy chapter 33! :D**

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_Chapter 33_

"Dally, I'm hungry." Iris innocently spoke, doing nothing but now sitting on her knees on the Curtis's living room floor, playing with her favorite teddy bear that Dally had got out for her from her rainbow and unicorn suitcase when she asked for it, right before Dallas dropped it on her lap, then plopped himself back down, lounging on the Curtis's couch and turning on the TV.

"Well, that's tough." Dally informed, not sounding stern, annoyed, angry, or anything like that at all. He was just using his usual cool and natural voice, sort of getting over the fact how he and Iris played dolls together about five minutes into him watching TV and her playing with her teddy bear. Not only that, but Dally had to tell Iris in complete detail about how each of her dolls looked from what clothes they were wearing to what color eyes, hair, and skin they had, so Iris could pick which ones she wanted to be, while Dally had to get stuck with some cheerleader and princess ones. Nevertheless, Dallas only lasted with about fifteen minutes actually playing dolls, hating it fully, and for a few more passing hours, all Dally did was watch more TV, leaving Iris to go back to playing with her favorite teddy bear.

"Dally, come on! Please! All we've been..doing for a few hours..is watching TV...and I'm blind!" Iris began begging. She was so adorable in Dally's mind, whether he admitted it or not, and he truly did want to get her something to eat, but he didn't know how to cook so well, and he didn't know what the others would do if he gave her certain food. Iris certainly had a soft spot there in Dally's heart, just like the Cade's were to him.

"Iris, I can't cook to save my own life here, so unless you want to die today, I suggest you suck your hunger up. Your sister and Johnny should be back any moment."

Dally formed a glare at the clock, realizing it was five minutes past noon, and Johnny had told Dallas before he and Sondra left that they'd be back from wherever they were going by 12:00, but they were still out. Plus, the rest of the gang wouldn't be back for a couple more hours, so Dally knew he was screwed with being stuck with babysitting the youngest female Prescott all by himself until Johnny and Sondra arrived back at the Curtis's house.

Dallas had attempted going back to watching the boring news on the TV, considering nothing else but Mickey Mouse was on, which Dally thought he was lucky that Two-Bit wasn't there at the time, but instead of simply zooming back out on the TV, Dally couldn't help himself to look at Iris, seeing a single tear actually drip out from one of her silver/gray-colored eyes and travel its way down her cheek as she held her teddy bear close to her stomach, which released a little growl that Dally was able to hear, and believe it or not, he began feeling guilty. Dallas Christopher Winston was _never _guilty about _anything_ or anybody at all, but somehow, Iris was just different in his eyes. She had wiggled her way into his heart, sinking her way through the shell that surrounded it. Even though she did have a bit of a sassy attitude, she only used it when people tried pushing her around, or attempted messing with her older sis. Other than that, Iris Prescott was a totally adorable sweetheart.

"...You're really hungry, huh?" Dally asked, forcing himself up into a sitting position after laying down on his side and just watching the TV for a couple of hours.

"...Mm hm..." Iris innocently hummed, nodding her head in the direction where she heard Dally's voice. Dallas knew he couldn't say no or ignore that at all. Iris actually _was _hungry, and by the look that was shimmering off of both of her silver/gray-colored eyes, Dally could tell that she was completely full of sorrow, thinking that she was going to starve since he said he wasn't to feed her anything.

Dally released a heavy, annoyed-like sigh for Iris to hear, as he rolled his eyes, but he was only doing that to convince himself that he wasn't getting wrapped around Iris's little finger, but he knew that, that even though he was the same tough, hard, tuff bad-boy, towards Iris he couldn't help himself to be sort of soft and gooy for her on the inside. It showed a tiny bit out on the outside, but not much.

"Listen, Iris," Dallas instructed "I'm not the world's greatest cook, like..._at all_, but...I actually _do _know how to make either popcorn, grilled cheese sandwiches, and as much as I hate it, salad...so, take your pick."

This feeling suddenly lit right up in Dally's heart, peeking through some of the sudden cracks of its shell when his eyes met Iris's big, adorable, sweet smile that was now spread across her face, and her silver/gray-colored eyes were now flashing off cuteness and happiness mixed together.

"Really? You..mean it?!" Iris excitedly asked, as if a cure for her blindness was discovered, but she was just glad she'd actually be able to eat, considering she had a small breakfast as she and Sondra ate with the Curtis's Greasers gang for the first time ever that morning.

"Yes," Dally flatly answered. "Just answer the question before I changed my mind."

At that moment, Iris would've sassed some words right back, but she wasn't going to use her attitude towards Dally since he wasn't pushing her buttons, and he didn't have Sondra there to boss around with anything, so Iris was still overjoyed. Plus, she wasn't dumb at all. She might've been a little blind girl, but she could totally pick up how Dally was starting to grow soft for her, just like she was going soft for him. Iris was sort of starting to like the fact that Dally was babysitting her, even with him complaining about playing dolls and just watching TV for a few hours instead of doing anything with her.

"Grilled cheese, please," Iris stood up from the floor, still holding her favorite teddy bear in her arms as she turned around and faced the direction where she heard Dally's voice, still smiling her adorable, sweet, wide grin at him to thank him. "Can I have some chips with my sandwich, too?"

Dallas hesitated, grasping Iris's question, until he just shrugged his shoulders and stood up from the couch. "If the Curtis's bought anymore, then sure." Dally answered as he stood up from the couch, watching Iris's eyes follow him as he walked behind her, since she could hear his footsteps, and he placed his hands on her shoulders, helping her walk into the kitchen, until he gently picked her up from her waist and sat her down in a chair at the table. Iris just sat still, kicking her feet gently back and forth as they dangled off of the seat that she was sitting in, her eyes just looking in front of her and at her teddy bear as she continued to play with its little paws. The chair she was actually sitting in was away from Dally since he placed her in a chair that faced away from him, so he could just get the grilled cheese done faster.

"My cane, Dally..." Iris softly reminded, which is when Dally left back to the Curtis's living room, and returned to the kitchen less than ten seconds later, now holding Iris's pink and white cane, until he rested it back against another chair at the table to the right of Iris, then hurried on to wash his hands in the Curtis's sink, rolling up his sleeves before doing so. Afterwards, he instantly got started on getting Iris her lunch. He wasn't that hungry much himself, so he was only focusing on making Iris's lunch for her to eat. Dally rested a plate down on the counter, then turned on the stove, fetching two pieces of bread before getting a slice of cheese from the Curtis's fridge.

"Crust on or off?" Dally asked, trying his best to act like he wanted to get this over with, but on the inside, he was kind of starting to like the feeling of babysitting Iris, whether he admitted it or not.

"On, please," Iris answered "also...am I allowed any chocolate milk...to drink if there is...any? I need...to take a pill anyway..."

Her stuttering and words getting interrupted by her thinking was improving. She wasn't hesitating as much to continue thanks to her brain damage. That was actually one of the lessons that Charlie and Rebecca were teaching her, like how to walk with her cane, read, and write.

"Sure, I guess," Dally simply shrugged, knowing for a fact that Soda and Ponyboy drank chocolate milk every morning for breakfast. "You take pills?"

"Three per day...one during breakfast...one during lunch...and the last before bed..." Iris responded.

"What for?" Dallas concerndly cocked an eyebrow as he peeked over his shoulder at the little blind girl, but then went back to fixing her grilled cheese.

"...My brain..damage..." Iris confessed. Instantly, Dally's eyes shot huge as his mouth slimly fell open, but he quickly shook his head, snapping out of his shocked trance. Not only was Iris blind, but...she also had brain damage. Now Dally completely understood why she stuttered with her words a whole lot, pausing and hesitating here and there as well.

"You...you have brain damage?" Dally asked, his voice sounding ordinary and usual, but on the inside, he could've sworn he felt a piece of his heart yank. Usually, Dallas Winston didn't give a hang who you were, no matter if you were apart of the fuzz or a bum, and he'd care less about you or beat the living crap out of you, even if you were just a child, but other than the Cade's, Dally was starting to develop a new feeling in his heart for Iris and even Sondra, since he was starting to see what Sondra had to go through with Iris's blindness.

"Yes..." Iris nodded her head, before she quietly muffled under her breath for her to only hear, "Mama took..a drug when I..was in her...tummy..."

"What was that?" Dallas questioned as he looked over his shoulder again at the youngest Prescott.

"Nothing." Iris quickly lied, which only caused Dally to cock an eyebrow in a concerned manner. He stared back at what he was doing, focusing on fixing Iris's lunch once more, but at the same time, this suspicious feeling was starting to form in the pit of Dally's stomach, as if a knot was tying up, telling him that whatever Iris just said to herself quietly under her breath, and Dally knew for a hardcore fact that she _did _say something, it involved Sondra's secret...maybe Iris was even _involved _in the secret.

"Hm..." Dally softly spoke to himself, so he could only hear his own words. "...Johnny _did _tell me watchin' this kid would help me understand and get to know Baby more...and I _did _promise him I'd try to get used to her for him...well, well, well...looks like Iris will help me greatly with whatever Baby's secret is..."

"Dally?" Iris's voice piped up.

"Yeah?"

"Can you please get..my pill and some..chocolate milk now?" Iris innocently and kindly asked. "I'd get it myself, but...yeah..."

"Yeah, sure. Just sit there and don't move from that chair." Dally instructed. Using his head there, even though he wasn't going to be out of the room for more than twenty seconds, Dallas turned the stove off, before he left Iris all alone in the kitchen. Sondra's bag and Iris's suitcase still remained where it was beside the Curtis's front door, so Dally instantly grabbed a hold of the handle of Iris's unicorn and rainbow designed suitcase, walking it over to the Curtis's couch, where he plopped himself down and unclipped the locks, both of them releasing a _click _sound until Dally opened up the suitcase and began searching through all of the clothes and other toys that were stuffed in there, keeping a close eye out for Iris's pills.

"Pills, pills, pills..." Dally softly spoke to himself, continuing to search through Iris's suitcase until he finally found the small orange container that was wrapped up in one of Iris's shirts to keep it safe. "Ah, pills!" Dallas picked the container up and read the label, realizing Iris's full name and the date she recieved the pills, along with the name of the actual pills and how many she needed per day just so he could understand this process better, considering Iris and Sondra were going to be staying at the Curtis's house for a couple of weeks or so.

Dally closed Iris's suitcase before taking it back over to where Sondra's bag rested beside the Curtis's front door, and then started his way back to the kitchen with the youngest Prescott's pills.

"Dally? Did you..get my pills?" Iris questioned.

"Yep, I got them right here," Dally answered as he walked his way back to the stove, turning it back on after he placed the container of Iris's brain damage pills on the counter, then went back to fixing her a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. "So," Dally stated, stripping off the plastic from the piece of cheese that he got out from the Curtis's fridge. "Your full name is Iris Marie Prescott, huh?"

"..Yes..." Iris nodded her head.

"Well, it's a tuff name...a cool name for a girl like you, I mean." Dally said, flipping the two slices of bread on the pan that he held over the yellow, orange, and red flame of the stove so they would get to a perfect golden-brown.

"...Thanks..." Iris grew a little, cute smile at Dally's somewhat compliment, right before she came out and asked the question, "What's your full name, Dally?"

"Dallas Christopher Winston," Dally answered, setting the pan down on the stove before trotting over to the fridge that was only a few inches away, then reaching to the top to get a bag of chips, which he successfully did, before resting it on the counter besides the plate and Iris's pills.

"..That's a nice name..." Iris shared her opinion of Dally's name as she continued to play with her favorite teddy bear that rested in front of her on the Curtis's table.

"...Thank you, Iris..." Dally was completely rare to give out thank-you's, but towards Iris, he couldn't help it. Besides, at that moment, he figured it'd be a great time to ask Iris a question himself. "What's Baby's full name?"

"...Baby Allison Prescott..." Iris wasn't dumb at all. She was actually smarter for her age with certain subjects and topics, even though she's only seven and blind. She knew that Sondra and Dally didn't get along with each other so well yet, and even though she believed on the inside that they'd grow to understand and like each other sooner or later, Iris wasn't going to be the one to easily admit Sondra's actual name.

"Hm..." Dally hummed, topping one of the pieces of bread that rested in the pan with the slice of cheese, before placing the other piece of bread on top of the other, instantly starting to melt the cheese. "Why does she get called Baby? I mean, why is that her nickname?" Dally questioned as he turned the stove off, then placed the grilled cheese sandwich down on the plate. Dally could hear Sondra taking in a deep, but yet soft, smell of the kitchen air, before she released it in a soft, happy sigh. Dallas couldn't help to smirk with satisfaction at that. He knew his grilled cheese sandwiches were like Darry's. To die for.

"She just hates it when...others know her..actual name..." Iris explained "so...for an ordinary nickname, she decided..to pick a name..that reminds her of an infant...Baby..."

"Ah, I see," Dally nodded his head, focusing on how many chips he then put on the plate next to the grilled cheese sandwich, so Iris wouldn't waste any or anything like that.

"Do you have..any siblings, Dally?" Iris wondered, still playing around with her favorite teddy bear's paws.

Dally nodded his head as he fetched the chocolate syrup and regular white milk from the fridge, but since he reminded himself that Iris wasn't looking in his direction, and the fact that she was blind, he knew he'd have to speak up with more words.

"Yeah, I have a younger sister named Amanda, but she likes getting called Olivia more. She actually lives with one of her friends, so I'm the only Winston left, along with my step old man and mother." Dally shared.

"Baby and I..had an older brother before..."

Dallas cocked an eyebrow in a thinking way at the words '_had_' and '_before_', but the words that came out of his mouth were, "What was his name?"

"Gabriel...but Baby and I..called him Gabe a lot..." Iris replied.

"Really? What happened to him?" Dallas Winston was the type who was never worried or concerned about anybody at all, unless you were one of his friends, especially the Cade's, but with Iris suddenly sounding so upset with sorrow, he couldn't help himself to sink with concern. Iris was a seven-year-old blind girl with brain damage and an older sister who has some secret, and Dally knew one way or another, he'd get to the bottom of all of these mysterious things that he found questioning.

"...He's in Heaven now..." Iris said, her voice nearly completely quiet now, but since the whole Curtis's house was silent, except from the TV that was still on in the living room, Dally could still hear what she was saying, and boy, his eyes were now huge with his mouth hanging open. Iris attempted using her words in a good manner about Gabriel by saying he was in a better place, but in Dally's mind, all that snapped to him was that Gabriel was dead, no longer alive and no longer walking the earth.

"Oh my god..." Dally spoke so softly under his breath to himself, but what he said that was loud enough for Iris to hear was, "What happened to him, Iris? Was he drafted?"

"No..." Iris shook her head, "I don't know how..he died, actually...all I know is...he was only sixteen..."

Sondra never told Iris the truth behind Gabriel's death. Everyone Sondra told about Gabriel's death was that he died from cancer, but considering how much she and Iris lie about themselves and their parents, Iris didn't know whether she should believe her own older sister or what, even though she deeply wanted to. Dally certainly couldn't believe what he just heard. Sure, he heard about others dying in war at the age of eighteen, and others dying of cancer, stick-ups, beatings, and even rumbles, but with Sondra and Iris...there was just this feeling he didn't understand inside of him that forced him to actually be concerned about them, and this brother of theirs, only being sixteen and dying in a way that Iris didn't know...Dallas understood that this must've tied in with Sondra's secret.

"...I'm sorry..." Just like rarely giving out any kind of thanks, Dally hardly ever apologized to anybody, including his own friends. He only apologized to the Cade's often, and his thank-you's go towards his friends rarely. With Sondra and Iris though, Dallas couldn't help himself to feel concerned, and with Iris, Dally is okay with thanking and apologizing to her, even though he's the type who doesn't give a hang who anybody is. Iris is just a seven-year-old blind kid with brain damage here.

"It's okay...we'll see him again..some day..." Iris said.

Dally didn't know what to say to that, since he was actually feeling that sudden feeling shining through the cracks of the shell that was around his heart, so the only thing he said was "Yeah.", as he twisted off the top of the small bottle of Iris's pills.

"..So, you only take one pill, you're sure?" Dally asked, already knowing the answer to that question, considering Iris said it earlier and it was labeled on the container, but all Dally wanted was to change the subject for him and mainly Iris, since Gabriel was hers and Sondra's own brother who was dead.

"Yes..just one..." Iris approved. Being very careful so he wouldn't drop the container, Dally stuck his left hands thumb and pointer finger carefully down inside of it, scraping up one of the little white pills with a single purple stripe down its center, where he carefully placed it on the plate next to the grilled cheese sandwich and chips, right before he tightly closed the container, then started making some chocolate milk by getting the glass cup out from one of the cabinets, along with a straw. "Dally?" Iris said.

"Yes?" Dally asked.

"When is..everyone else going..to be back?" Iris wondered.

"Well, Johnny and your sister should be back any moment now. Darry will still be at work for a few more hours, same with Soda, Kitten, and Steve, Ponyboy, Cassidy, and Jocelyn should be at the park playing right now, and as for Two-Bit...well, I have no idea where he is, but he'll be back most likely by the time everybody else is. So, you and I still have some time to spend together." Dally explained, stirring the chocolate syrup in the glass cup with a spoon after he poured some regular white milk in it. Iris didn't say anything else, so Dally didn't either. All Dallas did was finish up making Iris's lunch and place all of the stuff back in the fridge and cabinets.

"Alright, your lunch is ready," Dally informed, carrying the plate over to the Curtis's kitchen table, where Iris sat up perfectly straight in her chair. Seeing her grin really made Dally feel like smiling himself actually, but all he did was smirk a little with satisfaction, and he rested the plate that had the grilled cheese sandwich, chips, and Iris's pill on the table in front of her, then placing the glass cup with the straw resting in the chocolate milk a little to the left of the plate.

"Hey, Dally?" Iris questioned after she took in a deep, but soft, smell of the delicious food that was resting in front of her, a pout all the sudden tugging at her lips.

"Yeah?" Dally asked, his voice full of concern, and he placed his hands on his hips as he gazed at how worried Iris now looked.

"...I know this sounds..stupid...but I need...somebody to actually..feed me..." Iris informed.

"...Feed you?" Dallas wondered, cocking one of his eyebrows. "...You're serious?"

All Iris did though was nod as she twirled her thumbs around. "It's the only way..I can possibly eat."

"_The last time I checked, I was babysitting a seven-year-old, not an infant..._" Dally rolled his eyes as he released a deep, but very soft, sigh to himself, before he reminded himself in his head that Iris was blind, so she can't see where any of her food is, nor what she's eating actually is, including her drinks.

"Alright, alright," Dally caved in, not being able to help himself from sinking into Iris's frown and sorrow filled gray/silver-colored eyes. "I'll feed you, kid." Surprisingly, Iris didn't mind being called 'kid' by Dallas anymore, nor did she mind if he called her 'kiddo' or anything like that at all. All Iris did was follow the sound of Dally's footsteps, smiling widely and cutely now as happiness dazzled in her eyes, and her eyes shimmered with happiness, thankfulness, and relief all in one.

"Thanks, Dally," Iris thanked, still looking at Dallas from hearing the sound of the seat next to her pull out, then get pushed back in, both from Dally plopping himself down, now holding a knife so he could cut up the grilled cheese sandwich into different pieces instead of trying to hold the grilled cheese sandwich down at the bottom for Iris to bite and chew at the opposite end until she reached Dally's fingers.

"You're welcome, kiddo," Dally shrugged his shoulders, right before he slid the plate over to him, then started cutting up the grilled cheese sandwich, leaving Iris to just grinning beside him in the other chair, kicking her bare feet still back and forth. Dally was thinking about the gang, especially Johnny, right then, thinking about what'd they say if they caught him actually doing what he was doing right then and there for Iris. Johnny would be the one to smirk properly and tell Dally that he was going soft for the youngest Prescott, leaving Dally to object and say that he'd never get wrapped around any child's little finger, but on the inside, Dally would be thinking to himself that maybe that was correct, and he _was _going soft for Iris.

"_What's happenin' to me?!_" Dally asked himself on the inside, but on the outside, he couldn't help himself to continue smirking a little with satisfaction at the youngest Prescott, who waited patiently for her food to be given to her. "_Maybe babysitting her isn't so hard..._" Dally thought to himself, but he spoke the exact words out loud, "How about you take your pill while you wait for me to cut your sandwich up."

"Sure." Iris shrugged simply. Dallas sat the knife down on the table and carefully picked Iris's pill up from the plate, using his thumb and pointer finger on his left hand once more to keep it still from slipping out of his grip.

"Open wide," Dally instructed, and Iris listened to him right after she fully grasped his two words after he spoke them. Dally carefully rested the pill down in Iris's mouth, before he got her the chocolate milk and placed the straw close to her mouth. "Now take a drink and swallow." Dally said. Iris locked her lips around the straw, taking in some of the tasty chocolate milk and gulping it down in one go, taking her pill along with it. "That a girl." Dally nodded his head in an approving manner as he placed the glass cup of chocolate milk back where he first rested it on the table, then picked the knife back up, starting to cut different pieces of the grilled cheese sandwich yet again.

"Can I..have a chip?" Iris kindly asked.

"Yeah, alright." Dally replied, picking up one of the chips from the plate and popping it in Iris's mouth, leaving her to chew and swallow it as he went back to cutting up the grilled cheese sandwich. "Hey, Iris...can I ask you a question?" Dally cocked an eyebrow from a sudden question popping up into his mind. He figured getting the answer to it would help solve a major piece to this puzzle that he was trying to figure out about Sondra.

"Sure," Iris simply replied, "what is it?"

"...Where do you live?" Dally hesitated for a couple of seconds before coming right out and asking the question that was in his brain.

Meanwhile at the mall, Johnny had already picked out his tux and was now sitting down on a chair, kicking back and trying not to yawn from beginning to get bored, but Sondra had been trying to pick out the perfect dress for the formal dance at their high school for hours now. Johnny sat still, one of his legs crossed over the other and his arms spread away from his body, his black eyes staring at the closed door of the changing room that Sondra was in, trying on yet another dress.

"Johnnycake," Sondra sighed from the opposite side of the closed and locked door. "I feel like I look terrible in this dress, too."

"Well, I'd love to see how you look in it. I bet you look gorgeous...even though you looked gorgeous in all of those other previous dresses also." Johnny said.

"Oh, alright...I'm coming out." Johnny watched as the door unlocked with a _click _sound, followed by it actually opening up, and here came Sondra stepping out in this beautiful lavender, sparkly dress, it skirt going down all the way to her ankles, and her sleeves were long, a part of her sleeves hooking over inbetween her thumbs and pointer fingers. Lastly, around her waist, glorious purple and silver gems were designed, as if it was some sort of belt. Johnny couldn't believe it. His black eyes were now widened and he was now standing up slowly from where he was sitting, as if he was in some sort of trance, but there was just something about that dress combined with Sondra's beauty that Johnny adored quite more than all of the other dresses.

Sondra looked down at herself, sliding her bare hands down the skirt of the lavender dress a bit to straighten out the wrinkles, until she formed a grin back up at the eldest Cade.

"So, Johnny," Sondra said "what do you think?"

Nonetheless, instead of getting any verbal response, Johnny walked straight up to Sondra and cuffed his hands gently around her cheeks, right before he moved right on in and planted their lips together. Sondra's eyes widened when feeling Johnny's lips actually pressed against hers all over again, just like how they ended their friends night out, but somehow, this kiss was a whole lot more comforting, embracing, tender, and...just plain golden and tuff. Maybe that's because this was actually their second kiss, and both Sondra and Johnny felt that each other were great kissers.

Sondra and Johnny both continued locking lips for about fifteen seconds straight, until Johnny was the one to end it by pulling himself back, keeping his hands gently cuffing Sondra's cheeks, the two of them now deeply, but softly, catching their breath as they looked deeply into each others eyes, both of their faces now warm and beating red.

"I-I'm so sorry, Baby. I shouldn't have-" Johnny attempted telling Sondra that he shouldn't have kissed her out of the bloom like that, but before he could finish, Sondra moved in herself and pressed her lips against his again, causing him to shut up instantly. That kiss only lasted about five seconds, since Sondra and Johnny both didn't want to get busted by any of the employees or anything, but to Sondra's surprise, she actually left Johnny smiling widely and goofily, his face beating red and eyes sparking with happiness...but if only they knew that somebody had saw them kissing...

"So..." Sondra spoke up, trying her best to act natural as she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, now shyly grinning herself at the oldest Cade. "I take that you like the dress?"

"...Oh, yes..." Johnny quickly shook his head to snap out of what was like a new trance to him, wiping his goofy grin off from his face, so he could act like what just happened actually didn't, just like Sondra was doing, even though the two of them knew for a fact that they kissed an extra two times.

Sondra walked over to a mirror, slowly swaying her hips back and forth a bit as she stared at her reflection, still blushing some from what just happened between her and Johnny.

"It's a mighty tuff dress on you, Baby," Johnny complimented "the best dress properly in the whole store for such a golden girl like you."

"Aww, thanks so much for saying that, Johnnycake," Sondra happily sighed, but however, as she stared at herself in the mirror, she suddenly remembered this dark and terrifying nightmare she had the night before. It was actually a flashback from when she was just a four-year-old girl, and Gabriel was around...

**A/N: What's Sondra's nightmare about with Gabriel? Why does Dally want to know where Sondra and Iris live? Who saw Sondra and Johnny kissing? Please review and I'll update faster with the more reviews I get! Stay tuned for the next chapter! Thanks, everyone! :D :D :D :D**


	34. Gabriel's Death (Part 1)

**A/N: I can't believe how far I've come in four months with this story! Thank you all so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and followers, but the story isn't over yet! It's time to see what flashback Sondra had in her dream with Gabriel! What's so dark about it? Let's find out! Please review and happy reading chapter 34! :D**

**Oh, and also, I'm just saying that like each person with a dream, I'm not going to give up on mine to become an author. I'm proud of my work, and I understand that everybody isn't going to adore my stories, but I'm just asking kindly if you don't like them and want to review, please don't tell me things just so you get me to quit, because I'm not going to quit on my writing one way or the other. My writing is a piece of me, and nobody can take that away from me. Plus, I can only update when I can. I have a lot to do outside of this website as well, so please remember that this takes time. Now, enjoy chapter 34! :D**

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_Chapter 34_

Sondra's eyes grew wide a little as she looked at her reflection in one of the mall's dressing room mirrors, now completely lost in a nervous trance as she looked into her wide eyes, remembering the nightmare she had the night before. It was a flashback alright...a flashback of what _actually _caused Gabriel to pass on. Sondra remembered her older brother tell her in that dream/nightmare of hers previously that she knew better than to lie, because he really didn't die from cancer, but that's the answer everybody who questions about Gabriel's death recieves.

"Baby?" Johnny confusedly cocked an eyebrow, his eyes starting to glow with absolute concern, but Sondra was too lost in seeing herself as she was many years ago on the very day that Gabriel died...she had just turned four, and she loved the tree house that Gabriel built for her and for Iris when she got older to go up there herself. Regretfully, Sondra remembered everything...as if it all happened yesterday...

_Four. It seemed like an exciting number, especially when you just had your fourth birthday a couple days before. When you're four, you feel all free, especially when you're lifted up to sit on somebody's shoulders, or you're able to ride your first ever bike. For Sondra Prescott, for a four-year-old, she didn't understand her parents. Her mom always took different types of pills and powders, while her father drank and drank out of different cans and bottles. They got angry a whole lot often too, but not really towards her, or her nine-month-old sister, Iris. They're pretty much ignored completely. All of their parents attitude pretty much was all on their older brother, sixteen-year-old Gabriel, who fought and argued with Mr. and Mrs. Prescott, protecting his little sisters and loving them both deeply._

_Gabriel just loved feeding Iris her bottle of milk, then burping her himself before laying her down for a nap in her crib. Peacefully, he rested her down that evening as the clock chimed 7:35, rocking her in his arms after feeding her warm bottle of milk that he "bought" from the store and gently tapping her back to get her to burp, which she cutely did for a nine-month-old. _

_Sondra peeked through the crack of the doorway, seeing Gabriel rock Iris, who was now starting to fall peacefully into a deep sleep, a bit more. Sondra smiled cutely at the sight, certainly loving her siblings and how they bonded greatly, even though Iris was born blind thanks to Spring snorting up a powdered drug through a straw and up her nose. _

_"Hush, hush..." Gabriel whispered in a sing-song voice as Iris began to whimper a bit, not wanting to be put down just yet. "Hush little baby, don't you cry." Gabriel had an amazing voice when it came to singing any type of song, to any type of the music. His voice was so soothing and caring as he went on singing a little, giving his youngest sister kisses on her little strands of hair that were starting to show a little, while he patted and rubbed her back a bit more. _

_"Aw..." Sondra quietly spoke to herself when seeing Iris yawn into Gabriel's shoulder, until her silver/gray-colored eyes shut completely, and she was now fast asleep. Gabriel grinned, continuing to hum softly and comfortingly a bit, as he gently and carefully laid Iris down in her lime-green crib that was decorated with cotton-candy pink butterflies, yellow bunnies, and red hearts._

_"I love you, Iris," Gabriel's handsome smile grew wider as he covered Iris's little body up with her blanket, then leaned in and gave her one more kiss on the forehead. "Good night, cutie. Don't let the bed bugs bite." _

_Sondra giggled a bit when hearing Gabriel say that, which instantly had her older brother's full, undivided attention over to the cracked open door. Sondra's eyes grew big a little as she smacked her little bare hands over her mouth, trying to keep her new giggles from escaping, but she couldn't help it. She was big time losing at maintaining her soft, adorable laughter. _

_"Hey!" Gabriel playfully smirked, trying his best to sound stern just for a joke, but his own laughter was getting the best of him. That gleeful deviousness was shimmering in his eyes, which instantly had Sondra know what that look of his meant. Continuing to giggle, Sondra bashed as fast as a four-year-old could run, pouncing on her bed and trying her best to contain more of her laughter as she curled up in a little ball, but Gabriel instantly came running into her bedroom after her._

_"What'd I tell you previously about eavesdropping, missy?" Gabriel warned, still smiling that playful smirk and batting his eyes in a joking manner as he got down on his knees beside Sondra's little bed. The only response he actually got from Sondra though was a couple more giggles, which had him chuckling along. Sondra knew what game he was playing, and she loved that game. She found it very fun to play close to bedtime, for her, that is. _

_"Everyone must learn from their mistakes, Sunny," Gabriel snickered with phony deviousness as he slowly started hooking his fingers to look like they were targeting claws. "You must learn your lesson...by one of my good friends...the tickle monster!" Gabriel took no hesitation to pounce up on Sondra's little bed, playfully tackling her down on the soft sheets, until he lifted up her shirt to the top of her ribs, took in a deep breath, and playfully blew it out over her defenseless bellybutton._

_Sondra's face instantly lit up, her smile widely spreading as giggles instantly bursted out from her lips. Out of her being ticklish pretty much everywhere, her most ticklish spot was her navel, and Gabriel knew that completely. He found it very useful, especially at a fun moment like that as he drew and traced some taunting circles around on Sondra's skin, making her stomach curve inward and ribs feel like they were twitching, and much for laughter escaped from Sondra's mouth as Gabriel continued wiggling his fingers into her armpits, neck, ribs, belly, soles, and to finish off her tickling, Gabriel poked one of his fingers into Sondra's navel, spinning and twisting it around like a worm on a hook for about thirty seconds. _

_"Aww, is my bwaby swister just a wittle bit twicklish?" Gabriel playfully taunted in a joking, baby voice, snickering as he laid beside Sondra, who's face was beating red and slightly squinted eyes full of tears of laughter, some soft laughter still peeking out as she caught her breath as she and her older brother smiled at each other._

_"That tickled, Gabe!" Sondra giggled in her adorable little voice, as she pulled her pajama shirt back down and continued to clench it all the way down with her fists, just in case Gabriel possibly would attempt anymore role playing with his side as the tickle monster. Sondra loved playing that game with her older brother though. With each smile they exchanged, and every time they laughed with each other, their bonding grows more and more tighter, which causes their life to be a whole lot more enjoyable. _

_"It was supposed to!" Gabriel informed, trying his best not to laugh too loud for their parents to come up and complain, just as the eldest Prescott gave his oldest kid sister a little kiddie tap on the nose with one of his pointer fingers. "Did you have fun though?" Gabriel smiled in spite of himself when his response from Sondra was a few nods as she continued to giggle a little, her arms remaining crossed over her stomach. "I'm glad you had fun, Sunny," Gabriel said as he stroked Sondra's cheek a bit with the back of his right hand, right before he started tracing his fingers through her golden blonde hair. Nonetheless, confusion flooded Gabriel's eyes as he watched Sondra crawl her way up to his chest, where she sat on his waist and held her hands in front of her mouth, adorably chuckling away._

_"What are you doin', little one?" Gabriel questioned, snickering a bit with his words as he continued to grin at Sondra, but he cocked an eyebrow. Nevertheless, instead of getting any verbal response, Gabriel watched as Sondra tugged up his shirt a little, only so some of his stomach would be exposed, and she started scratching her short nails back and forth around on Gabriel's stomach._

_"H-Hey!" Gabriel allowed some laughter to escape from his lips for about fifteen seconds until Sondra crawled her way back off and stared straight into her handsome older brother's eyes, smiling cutely at him. "Alright, alright, you win this round, Sunny, but be warned...when I get back, there WILL be a rematch, whether you're awake or not." Gabriel smirked as he gave Sondra one final shot to the ribs, causing her to roll up in a ball, her face brightening up with laughter once more. However, her laughter came to an end when Gabriel stood up from her bed and pulled his neon, light blue and neon, bright green paint splattered designed black shirt back down, stretching afterwards. _

_"Do you HAVE to go out tonight, Gabby?" Sondra asked in her pleading voice, giving Gabriel her begging eyes and puppy dog pout for an attempt to get Gabriel to decide to stay home instead of heading out. _

_"Yes, Sunny," Gabriel formed another smirk of his as he turned back around to see his oldest little sister. "I need to end Tulsa's gangs. Maybe when you get older, you can be a Greaser, too."_

_"Mommy and Daddy tell us we're Regulars though, Gabe...what's a Regular? Or a Greaser?" Sondra questioned, complete innocence locked up in her adorable eyes, and her head tilted a little like a confused puppy dog. That's when Gabriel remembered that Sondra had just turned four, so there's no way in heck she'd understand a single thing about Greasers, Regulars, or Socs. _

_"It's hard to explain, kiddo," Gabriel shook his head in a regretful manner, his words sighing. "..I'll tell you about Greasers, Regulars, and Socs when you get older." _

_"...What's a Soc?" Sondra asked after a short little pause. Gabriel hesitated a moment, wondering if his little sister took anything into consideration about what he just said, but after pausing for about five seconds, a handsome smirk spread across Gabriel's face._

_"You're certainly a special one, aren't ya?" Gabriel questioned. Sondra instantly grew a smile upon her face, making her older brother chuckle a bit as he playfully ruffled up her hair, before he planted a little kiss on her forehead. _

_"I love you, Gabby." _

_"I love you, too, Sunny."_

**A/N: Seems cute, right? Well, unfortuently some major drama is going to flood up in part 2 of Sondra's nightmare! Please review, and remember that I have a lot to do outside of this website since school is coming back in a month, and I got a lot to get ready for. Stay tuned for the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


	35. Gabriel's Death (Part 2)

**A/N: Man, I can't believe I've come so far in this story! Well, here goes part 2 of Sondra's nightmare! What happened to Gabriel, causing him to die that very evening? Let's find out! _Please_ review and happy reading to chapter 35! :D**

_Itlaic-Sondra's nightmare_

Regular print-The present time

* * *

_Chapter 35_

_"Alright, little one," Gabriel snickered at Sondra's little bounces and hops she was now starting to play on her bed, joyfully giggling and quietly, but happily, cheering her head off, as her pale blue eyes dazzled with happiness. Just as Sondra took another leap off of the soft sheets, cozy pillows, and warm blanket, Gabriel cuffed his hands around her waist, catching her and starting to sway her soothingly and caringly in his arms, as if she was four-months-old instead of a four-year-old._

_"Can you read me a story?"_ _Sondra cutely asked as Gabriel gently rested her back in her bed, planting her head carefully on one of her pillows, before he lastly lovingly tucked her warm blanket around her body to keep her all cozy so she could fall asleep easier. _

_"Aw, I'm afraid not, Sunny," Gabriel shook his head, but he continued to smile his handsome grin at his oldest little sister, as he decided to stroke her already shagged up, golden blonde hair, tucking some strands behind her ears. That's when Gabriel checked his watch to see what time it was. A new Greasers and Socs rumble was going to break out in about fifteen minutes, so Gabriel knew he had to quickly go and meet up with some of his friends that are also Regulars, but disguised as Greasers or Socs too, so they could sneak into the rumble and break it up, ending the rivalry of Tulsa's three gangs once and for all, so there would be no West and East drama, and Regulars would actually be able to leave their houses with no fear or worry._

_"Pleeasssee?" Sondra attempted giving Gabriel her puppy dog face, her eyes wide with plead and bottom lip sticking out a little, quivering. Gabriel knew that face, and usually he'd get sucked right into what Sondra wanted to do, but at that time, he knew he'd have to deny it if he wanted to quickly meet up with his friends and rush over to where the Greasers and Socs were going to have their rumble assigned. _

_"I told you, Sunny," Gabriel stated "I'm afraid not. If I want to get where I'm going tonight, I got to go right now."_

_On the outside, the eldest Prescott might've seemed alright with saying that, but you could see how he was regretting it by looking deep into his eyes, where his actual feelings on the inside were contained usually. _

_"Awww..." Sondra sighed, still flashing her puppy dog face. Gabriel tried his best to act stern right then, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes, but whence he focused his eyes on Sondra's again, he failed miserably at acting stern. A huge, handsome smile instantly spread across Gabriel's face as some snickers escaped from his lips. _

_"Don't worry, little sis," Gabriel said "I promise you, tomorrow evening, you'll get two bedtime stories since I got to leave you without one today."_

_That instantly brought overjoyed sparkles in Sondra's four-year-old eyes, and she instantly grew an adorable, wide grin as she nodded her head, clapping her hands a bit while she was at it._

_"Alright, it's a deal," Gabriel hung out one of his pinky fingers, which Sondra instantly wrapped one of her own little pinky's around. That's how Gabriel always closed a deal with her, since she was just a little four-year-old. "In the mean time, you'd best get some sleep, because there's no way I can read you anything if you sleep for the whole day tomorrow from you being so exhausted." _

_"I love you, Mr. Mommy/Mrs. Daddy," Sondra giggled as Gabriel planted another little kiss on her forehead, right before she rested her eyes shut and turned over on her other side, facing away from her older brother. Gabriel's smile grew wider, actually glad that Sondra called him Mr. Mommy and Mrs. Daddy from time to time, since he acted more like an actual parent than just an older brother to both of his little sisters. _

_Gabriel cooked, cleaned, and spent as much time as possible with both Sondra and Iris, helping Sondra with her small homework assignments, which is mainly just spending time outside and coloring different pictures with certain colors, different objects, or some shapes. Iris, on the other hand, Gabriel just read to and tickled, feeding her and changing all of her diapers as well. He was the one who did everything for his sisters, while Spring and Dominic only ignored them, drinking and smoking their lives away, with taking drugs on the side too. _

_"I love you, too, Sonny," Gabriel whispered into Sondra's ear, before he gave her one final kiss on her head, then whispered, "I'll see you in the morning." _

_However, if only he and/or Sondra knew that there wouldn't be a tomorrow morning for him...and he wouldn't ever see either of his sisters ever again..._

_Gabriel quietly tiptoed out of Sondra's bedroom, flicking off the lights and leaving the door that he was closing behind him cracked open a little bit like Sondra always has it. That's when Gabriel took one silent look into Iris's room, peeking in through the crack of the open door to see that Iris was still fast asleep in her crib, peacefully dreaming in that adorable baby head of hers._

_"I love you, Iris," Gabriel softly spoke through the crack, "I'll see you tomorrow morning." _

_Gabriel decided to quietly close Iris's bedroom door fully, taking one last peek at Sondra to make sure she actually was going to sleep, and when it was official that she was, he headed off to his bedroom, where he only snatched up his new, black leather jacket and slipped it on, before he walked back out into the hallway, closing his door fully behind him, then continuing his way down the staircase that entered the living room._

_Spring was on her knees in front of the coffee table that had three filled ashtrays resting on its surface, and she was actually snorting up some different colored powders by using a straw. _

_Dominic, on the other hand, was absent-mindingly flipping through the channels on the TV, and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth like he was just hanged from a noose or something. In his opposite hand that wasn't holding the remote, he was drinking some vodka. _

_Gabriel's eyes widened at the horrible sight of his parents, deeply questioning to himself how in the world he, Sondra, and Iris were their children. Gabriel wanted to attempt convincing himself that they were adopted, but that was impossible. He was there when Sondra and Iris were both born in the hospital, which was completely different with him, because he was born right there on the couch, since his parents didn't want to go to the hospital for their first born child. _

_Both Dominic and Spring looked terrible, their eyes surrounded with dark circle, and their hair all mangled up. Spring even looked like she was becoming underweight, because when you take so much drugs, they can eat away at what you have inside. _

_"Mom, Dad," Gabriel addressed his parents._

_"What do YOU want?!" Dominic bitterly and harshly demanded to know as he and Spring instantly snapped their full, undivided attention over to their only son. Instantly, Spring's eyes shot huge as Dominic's jaw dropped, causing his mouth to hang open again. They could not BELIEVE what Gabriel was wearing from the leather jacket, to the worn out, tore up designed, black jeans, and even to the dirty, very old tennis shoes. _

_"I'm just going to go hang out with some of my friends," Gabriel lied, considering he wasn't going to tell his own abusive parents that he was truly going to sneak into the new rumble that's coming up in a few with his friends and end the rivalry in Tulsa. Gabriel might've been blonde, but he wasn't dumb, that's for sure. He was very great at sounding convincing when it comes to lying to his parents. _

_"Dressed like that?! Hell no!" Dominic bellowed. He actually threw the remote across the room, causing it to bang into the kitchen wall, leaving a dent. Gabriel closed his eyes, then took in a deep, but soft breath through his nose, releasing it softly the exact same way as he reopened his eyes, not showing any fear or anything like that._

_"We've told you before, Gabe," Spring snarled "we're Regulars, not some Greasers!" _

_Gabriel stuffed his hands into his leather jackets pockets, shrugging his shoulders at his parents. "I don't think what I wear will change my label in Tulsa's eyes, Mom and Dad." Gabriel lied once again. That truly wasn't correct. Your clothes was one of the main things that others use to give you a label. However, Spring and Dominic weren't going to allow Gabriel to pull that lie over them. They both lived in Tulsa ever since they were little kids, so they knew all of the "rules" Tulsa had to label you either a Greaser, Soc, or a Regular. _

_"You'd best go back on upstairs and change your clothes, or else you're not going anywhere!" Dominic blustered._

_Gabriel instantly rolled his eyes after he took in and digested his father's threatening words. "Yeah, how you goin' to stop me?" Gabriel challenged, his voice uncaring with this annoyed facial expression now plastered on his face._

_Dominic furiously narrowed his eyes, shooting off daggers at his son as he threw his now empty glass of vodka, not caring to look where he threw it, and the sound of glass shattering instantly flooded the room, followed by Dominic actually slamming his feet down on the stained carpet, sternly standing up from the ripped up and stained couch. _

_Upstairs, little Sondra had heard the sound of glass shattering, which instantly caused her to shoot up in her bed, her eyes now widened from wondering fearfully about what just happened. Quickly, the four-year-old three her blanket off from her and crawled out of her bed, right before she trotted her way out of her bedroom on her tippy-toes, quietly rushing her way down the hallway, but she stopped at the top of the stairs. She could see Gabriel standing there in the living room from the top, and Dominic was now up from the couch cracking his knuckles angrily. Sondra's eyes grew big a bit, not knowing what was about to happen. She's never witnessed or been in a beating in her entire life, so she didn't know what was about to happen. How could you possibly understand something like THAT when you've just turned four?_

_"What'd you just say to me, son?!" Dominic growled his words, daring Gabriel to repeat himself._

_Gabriel actually was afraid on the inside, but he wouldn't allow any of it to show. Instead, he narrowed his eyes in an upset manner towards his parents, keeping his hands stuffed in his leather jacket's pockets as he clenched his teeth furiously for both of his parents to see themselves. _

_"I said..." Gabriel answered "...how. Are. You. Going. To. STOP. ME?!" _

_Sondra released a tiny gasp, her eyes widened a bit more after she heard Gabriel's words. If there was one main thing Sondra always remembered her peers at school talking about, it was that you should love, respect, and care for your parents just as much as they do for you, meaning you shouldn't ever back talk them or anything like that, but Sondra always questioned why her mommy took so many different pills and powders, giving herself many shots too, while she wondered why her daddy drank all kinds of different liquids from different bottles and cans 24/7. Seriously, for all of Sondra's parent-teacher meetings, Gabriel had to go to all of them, which none of the teachers really minded, and Gabriel didn't either. _

_"Don't you dare talk to your father like that!" Spring pointed one of her pointer fingers sharply at Gabriel as she stood up from the carpeted floor, almost falling back from having a major headache on the count of the many drugs she snorted up, but Dominic caught her by the waist, holding her up, as the two scowled furiously at their oldest child. _

_"Mom, Dad, I'm sixteen! I'm sure I can pick my own decisions in who I really want to be!" Gabriel pointed to himself when speaking._

_"Not when you're our son! What your mother and I tell you..well, basically what I tell you, is exactly what you do! You're not one of those peasant Greasers!" Dominic bellowed, taking his hands away from his wife's waist just for a moment to angrily crack his knuckles once more, but he quickly placed his arms back around Spring's waist when she almost fell back again._

_Sondra seriously couldn't believe what all she was hearing. Her parents were actually hollering like that to their only son, and they're actually doing it without any cares about her and Iris upstairs. Speaking of Iris, Sondra was kind of surprised that she wasn't waking up with all of this bickering going on back and forth downstairs between Gabriel and their parents. _

_"Well, I'm totally not one of these jailbird Regulars either!" Gabriel snapped, raising his voice so loud with rage that Sondra felt like she was the one being hollered at. Nobody has EVER ticked Gabriel off like that._

_"That's enough, Gabe!" Spring ordered, but Gabriel didn't listen. He wanted to say what was on his mind right then and there. _

_"No, it's not enough," Gabriel snarled "you two might be my parents, but you're certainly no mother and father! You ignore your daughters, and you beat the heck out of me with both words and physical violence! I'm sick and tired of how you two think you can pick everything for me, and you most likely think you two can do the same to Sondra and Iris when they get older, but not on my watch! If they want to be Greasers, they can be Greasers, just like me! There's no way in hell I'm going to stay as a jailbird Regular anymore! I'm not a Regular! It's not who I truly am! I'm just a Greaser!" _

_"SHUT UP!" Dominic yelled. That outburst was so frightening that it gave Sondra a startled shock, causing her to start trembling, as her eyes started to feel tearful from the horrible show that she was viewing from the top of the stairs. _

_"No, I think it's best if you shut up, and stop treating me like horse crap, ignoring your daughters on the side!" Gabriel sternly said._

_"THAT'S IT!" Dominic instantly flung forward towards his son, but before Gabriel could rush a single step away, his father nailed him right in the mouth, causing him to fall straight to the carpeted floor. The tears in Sondra's widened eyes began to fall a bit as she watched Gabriel slowly pick himself up from the floor, coughing up some blood a bit as he stared back up at his furious father, and his bitter mother was instantly by her husband's side in seconds, fighting her headache so she could move on her own._

_"Are you through, Gabe?" Spring commanded to know, his eyes narrowed with a mixture of thinking and anger, which was her way of daring somebody to say the response she didn't want to get._

_"..Ugh..." Gabriel coughed up some more blood, allowing it to drip down his lips and continue its way down his chin, then falling down and staining the carpet. However, both of his parents didn't really care, which wasn't really surprising in Gabriel's eyes, but it was mighty hard to believe in Sondra's opinion._

_"...Is that all you got?" Gabriel asked, his voice soft, but still able to hear. He wasn't going to allow his parents to win this round. He wanted to get the message through their thick skulls one way or the other that no matter what happens in life, they can't pick their own kids lives, even though they did make and bring them into the world._

_Dominic started cracking his knuckles a bit, right before he didn't take any hesitation to slam one of his tough fists down on his son's chest, causing Gabriel to clench over his heart and let out a moan of pain, but he wasn't going to give up over that. He's been jumped a whole lot, and has been through even worse beatings by his parents, whether if it was to protect his sisters, or because he did something that his parents weren't so fond over. _

_"Are you finished now?" Dominic growled his words in a threatening tone, but Gabriel forced himself to create a glare upon his face, now laying flat on his back with the blood still dripping out from his mouth, and his hands remaining clenched over his chest. _

_"Not even close..." Gabriel hissed, which instantly caused him to recieve a hard kick in the ribs by Spring. Thank God she wasn't wearing any shoes, but it still hurt like heck. _

_Sondra locked her hands over her mouth, her eyes now huge and red-rimmed, her steaming, hot tears now falling down her red stained cheeks. She breathed in and out rapidly, but quietly, trying her best to remain calm as she felt her heart beating like a wild and crazy horse in her chest. Being only four, Sondra didn't know what to do. She still didn't understand what the heck her parents were doing to Gabriel, other than actually hurting him. Sondra desperately wanted to help Gabriel, but she truly knew that she couldn't, unfortuently and regretfully._

_"Alright, there's no way in hell we're going to play nice with you anymore, Gabe!" Dominic harshly warned._

_"You call THIS actually being NICE?!" Gabriel tried his best to proclaim his words, but his voice seemed to be stuck inside of him, as if his vocals were getting damaged. All Gabriel could really get out then was coughing up more blood, the inside of his throat feeling like it was violently burning, and the only thing that was cooling it down was the cold golden chain of his necklace that was being worn around his neck, the single charm hanging from it saying the single word...'Gabriel'..._

_"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Spring shouted "YOUR FATHER WARNED YOU!" _

_As much as Gabriel would hate to admit it, hot, steaming tears began flooding up in his eyes, which were starting to go red-rimmed, and the tears dripped down the sides of his face as he laid there, unable to move and now in a lot of pain as his parents whaled on him, Spring kicking and cursing at him, and Dominic punching and spitting at him, ignoring all of his moans, groans, and hollers that gave it away instantly that he was in complete pain. _

_About two minutes later with all of this beating, spitting, and cussing away at their son, Spring and Dominic finally backed off, their faces beating red and eyes narrowed with absolute rage as they both stared at Gabriel, who now was badly injured, dangerously coughing up even more blood with his nose now possibly broken, streaking out some new blood as well. His right leg was badly twisted, while his left leg was all numb, just like his bloody hands were, and his arms were all sore, scratched and bruises up. His right eye now had a black, blue, and purple mixed circle surrounding it, and his neck felt like it was completely in flames, hurting to death every time he attempted to swallow._

_"Ahh..." Gabriel attempted taking in a clear breath, but all that happened was that it came in all shaky, and when he released it, more blood came out._

_"...Gabe?" Spring questioned, her scowl instantly vanishing from her face as Dominic's did right after. The two of them realized that they had beaten Gabriel too much, and even though they hated their own son's guts, they didn't want to go to jail for actually beating their son...literally to death._

_Gabriel weakly opened up both of his eyes, only being able to have them cracked open, and he stared at both of his parents, knowing that he didn't have long at all. He knew he was going to die right then and there in the living room, not ever going to see his little sisters ever again, so he knew that if he didn't tell his parents what he's always wanted to tell them right then, then he wouldn't ever get to say it._

_"If you two EVER...lay a hurtful finger on...either Sondra or Iris...I will NEVER...forgive you..." Gabriel quietly and weakly spoke between shaky, deep breaths and coughing up more blood, until his eyes actually closed, and the last deep, shaky breath you could tell he was holding in his chest...released...and not a single breath was taken back in. _

_"We...we killed him!" Spring gasped, her eyes now huge and mouth gaping open from shock._

_"So what? One less mouth to feed...actually, we never feed our children anyway, so just one less child to get annoyed by." Dominic uncaringly rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Nonetheless, that only caused him to get a slap across the face by Spring, who was super furious to the point that she was actually starting to cry. _

_"First off, I didn't plan to go through a painful birth just so sixteen years later, our only son would get beaten to death by us!" Spring listed "And second of all, do you know what the police will do if they find out we killed our own son by beating him?! We'll get sent to jail, or even get the death penalty for child abuse and murder!" _

_"Spring, calm down! It's not like we actually meant to kill him!" Dominic violently informed, "I got a plan anyway! We can just simply make it look like somebody broke into our house for a robbery, and they killed Gabriel since he came downstairs from his room after hearing the door open!"_

_"Oh, please! What do we have worth stealing?!" Spring shook her head with this annoyed/angry facial expression glued straight on her face. _

_"Who knows and who cares?!" Dominic smacked his hand straight onto his face, then slid it up through his already messy hair. "Look," He then hissed at his wife, "Just start cleaning this place up to make it look like we've got nothing to hide. I'll add a few final markings to Gabriel's body to make it look like he was actually in something with a robber."_

_"Alright, alright! Fine!" Spring caved, starting quickly to pick up the pieces of shattered glass, and modeling some pictures in different places on the wall to cover some dents, until she would get started on cleaning up the drugs and empty bottles and cans of Dominic's drinks._

_Sondra seriously couldn't believe it now. She thought she couldn't believe it before, but now...she knew she was big time wrong, because Gabriel...their parents beat him to his grave...and he was such a smart, kind, golden-hearted, young man. _

_Dominic flipped out his switchblade from one of his worn out jean's pockets, watching the blade flick sharply out, until he eyed his already dead son._

_"Son...we didn't mean to kill you..." Dominic quietly spoke, as if Gabriel was still alive, until he got down on his knees and starting slitting Gabriel's clothes a bit, so he could make it look like he was knifed, right before Dominic finished off Gabriel's body by cleaning off the switchblade's grip first so nobody would find any fingerprints, then lastly, he stabbed the blade down into Gabriel's body, sinking it deep into his stomach._

_Sondra's tears fell faster and faster, her hands remaining cuffed over her mouth as she started shaking her head back and forth, trying to convince herself that this was all a nightmare, but she truly knew on the inside that it wasn't in her head. It was all true._

_Just as Sondra thought things couldn't get any worse, Dominic actually fixed his eyes up to the top of the staircase, seeing how his four-year-old daughter witnessed everything, from the starting arguement, to the accidental killing. Sondra released a gasp as she quickly took off running to her bedroom, closing the door behind her without any hesitation before she dove under her bed, curling herself up in a crying ball, finally allowing her sniffles and whimpers to escape. _

_"Spring!" Dominic exclaimed._

_"What?" Spring stopped what she was doing to quickly turn her attention back over to her husband, who was now trotting his way towards the staircase. _

_"Call the police and tell them the phony story of the robbery, and that the robber killed our son before he left from us realizing what he did, then hang up the phone!" Dominic instructed. He didn't wait for Spring to say anything back. He just took off running up the staircase, right before he stomped his way into Sondra's bedroom, not caring about the door as he left it to slam into the wall._

_Sondra froze, completely terrified as she heard Dominic's footsteps come closer and closer to her bed, but after about five seconds with the footsteps no longer being heard, Sondra thought that her father had left. However, she was proven wrong when she felt tough hands grasp her ankles, then yank her out from under the bed, leaving the poor four-year-old in a screaming and crying fit._

_"Shh! Shut up!" Dominic hissed, flying one of his hands up in the air, then bringing it back down to fly across Sondra's face, smacking her. Sondra's bottom lip quivered, sniffles and whimpers escaping from her as more tears fell from her red-rimmed, pleading, watery eyes. Dominic scowled, leaning in towards one of Sondra's ears as he whispered quietly and in a threatening tone, "Let's keep this our little secret."_

_Right then and there, Sondra knew two things for sure...one, it was now her job to protect Iris, and two, she wasn't going to get two bedtime stories the next evening...Gabriel was dead._

* * *

Sondra's eyes were now shedding tears as she stared at her reflection, pouting away in one of the mall's dressing room mirrors, remembering that dreadful memory that happened ten-almost-eleven long, straight years ago, but the dark and terrifying memories were still heavily vivid.

"Baby, are you alright?" Johnny instantly grew very worried whence he realized in the mirror's reflection that Sondra was crying, tears flowing down her slightly red cheeks with her eyes starting to go red-rimmed a little.

Finally, Sondra snapped out of what was like a trance, turning herself around and trying to get over the fact that she was crying in front of Johnny as the two of them stared right at each other.

Sondra couldn't help it any longer. She locked her hands over her face and started crying a whole lot. "I had a nightmare last night! I saw Gabriel! His death! I saw it! I saw it! It's all my fault! It's all my fault he's dead!" Sondra cried and cried, sniffling rapidly.

Johnny's eyes instantly widened, being full of plead and sorrow after he took in Sondra's words. However, he still believed that Gabriel passed away from cancer, and Sondra must've been in the hospital or someplace with him when he died, but at the same time, Johnny had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that was telling him that something wasn't right about what he was told about Gabriel's death.

"Oh, Baby," Johnny sighed, his tone consoling as he wrapped his arms around the oldest female Prescott, holding her close to him and allowing her to cry into his shoulder as he patted her back a bit with one of his hands, while his other hand stroked her hair in a comforting manner. "It was just a dream, Baby. Everything is alright. Just listen to me, please. It's not your fault he's gone. Just relax. I'm here for you." Johnny assured.

"Thank you, Johnny," Sondra wiped away her tears, right before she and the eldest Cade then looked straight into each others eyes. "...I think this is the perfect dress for me to wear to the formal dance." Sondra then shared.

"It's very pretty on you, Baby. You're the one who makes it look tuff though." Johnny offered Sondra one of his rare, cute smiles to cheer her up, which worked. Sondra instantly had a grin tug upward on her lips.

"Thank you, Johnny," Sondra thanked "well, I'd better go and take it off so we can buy it."

"Yeah..." Johnny shyly nodded, "go ahead. I'll be waiting."

Sondra wiped away the few remains of her tears, starting her way into one of the dressing rooms, but she froze in her tracks, confusingly cocking an eyebrow as she stared over her shoulder at Johnny.

"Hey, Johnny?" She questioned.

"Yeah?" The eldest Cade shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you have the same feeling that somebody is watching us at the moment?" Sondra asked.

Johnny hesitated, thinking heavily about Sondra's question as he took a couple of glances back and forth, studying and scanning where they were in the mall and at anybody else who was around, but no one was looking at either him or Sondra.

"I don't think so," Johnny shook his head, then formed a grin. "It's just in your head maybe. Just go on ahead and change out of the dress. Everything is okay."

"Alright..." Sondra shrugged, eyeing around the place for a couple of seconds, but before she actually walked into the dressing room, she stopped yet again to quickly go back to Johnny, where she gave him a quick, three second kiss on the lips, then smiled at him, recieving his grin in return as she turned back around and headed into the dressing room, closing the door and locking it behind her.

Johnny just sat back down on the little sofa that was there to sit when waiting to enter or for somebody to come out of the changing rooms, his cheeks now heating up and eyes sparkling with happiness as he released a happy, soft sign, thinking about Sondra.

Nonetheless, Sondra was correct...somebody _was _watching her and Johnny, catching every moment they had together there at the mall when they were searching for their formal outfits. There standing behind some of the racks and stands of different clothes and some shoes...was Two-Bit Mathews. The wisecracker's eyes were filled with joy, and he was now goofily grinning from ear to ear from actually witnessing Johnny and Sondra kiss.

"Wait until the others hear about this." Two-Bit quietly snickered to himself.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! What'll happen next? Why did Dally want to know Sondra's and Iris's address a few chapters back? Will Two-Bit actually tell the gang? What'll they do if he actually DOES tell him? Find out all of these questions and more coming in upcoming chapters! Please review and stay tuned! :D :D :D :D**


	36. Two Greasers Meet Dominic

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all, this story is almost finished, please review, and happy reading chapter 36! :D**

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_Chapter 36_

Dally walked down the street, his hands jammed in his leather jacket's pockets and dark blue eyes focusing heavily on where he was going, reminding himself over and over again about where Iris replied hers and Sondra's address was located. Iris had thought about Sondra telling her that the Curtis's Greasers gang believed that their parents were out of town, and they were looking for some place to stay for a few weeks, so she thought she could trust Dally with the address to hers and Sondra's house. Big mistake, because Dally was still convinced that Sondra was keeping a secret that had Iris tied into it, so Dallas knew completely that Mr. and Mrs. Prescott weren't out of town, and they must've also tied into Sondra's mysterious secret.

Dally hummed a soft tune to himself as he flipped out a cigarette from his worn out jeans pocket, and then his lighter from his other pocket, lighting the opposite end that hung out of his mouth up, then starting to take drags as he started thinking about what Mr. and Mrs. Prescott could both possibly look like. Johnny told Dally about Sondra telling him that their parents were just so amazing and golden, loving and caring to the extreme, so Dallas believed that Sondra and Iris had it made, but what he didn't fully understand was actually why the two female Prescott's were running away.

Darry might've been making a whole lot more of money with roofing a lot more houses than usual, as well as Sodapop working some extra shifts at the DX, which is actually how Johnny was able to buy himself a tux for the high school's formal dance because Darry and Soda both spared him some cash that he's been saving up for a few months now, but Dally didn't like the idea of Sondra and Iris staying at the Curtis's for God knows how long, especially with some secret being hid. Thinking about what the secret was, was eating away at him, and it only made him feel even more concerned about it every time he rested his eyes on Sondra and/or Iris.

After getting the address from Iris, Dally finished up feeding the youngest female Prescott her lunch before he helped her to the Curtis's couch, covering her up with a blanket since she said she was starting to feel a little sleepy, and after she was out like a light, Dally decided to head his way over to the Prescott's household to see if they were really telling the truth about Mr. and Mrs. Prescott being out of town, even though Dallas truly understood deep down inside that they never left town to begin with. Why would some parents who are super tuff and loving to their two daughters actually leave them all alone in a place like Tulsa for some weeks?

"Those bruises...those injuries..." Dally mumbled to himself after he took in and released a perfect smoke ring, cocking his eyebrow in a confused manner after he remembered what happened between him and Iris when he decided to tuck her in warmly on the couch...

_"Dally, I'm sleepy," Iris covered her mouth with one of her hands as a yawn escaped, and her silver/gray-colored eyes began drooping. She remained where she was, sitting at the Curtis's kitchen table as Dally took the dirty dishes over to the sink, resting them down in warm water and soap bubbles, thinking on his mind about what Iris just said to him. She might've been a seven-year-old, but...seven-year-old kids have naps too, right? _

_Dally shrugged at his own question before he turned himself back around and headed back over to Iris, gently placing his hands on her shoulders from behind, which Iris didn't seem to mind. She was too full and too sleepy at the moment to even care about what she was doing herself. _

_"Alright then, Iris," Dally nodded "I think it's best then if you take a little nap on the Curtis's couch."_

_Nonetheless, instead of getting any verbal response from the youngest female Prescott, all Dally got was a small yelp of what was like pain, until little Iris shrugged away his touch from her shoulders. All Dally just did was give both of her shoulders such soft and gentle squeezes. _

_"Iris, are you...okay?" Dallas confusedly cocked an eyebrow as he stared at the fabric of Iris's shirt that covered her shoulders, eyeing the colorful splash back and forth from the left shoulder to the right, knowing for a solid fact that something wasn't right. _

_"...Yeah..I'm fine..." Iris hesitated a moment before actually answering Dally's question, which Dally didn't understand was because of her brain damage, or because she was thinking heavily about the truth to his question, wondering if she should say it or not. _

_Just as Dally was about to say something else, he witnessed Iris tug on her sleeves a little bit, right before she stroked her hands gently up the opposite arms, resting them on her shoulders as she began rocking herself back and forth a little bit, trying to sooth herself, is what Dally was wondering. _

_Instantly, Dally was growing absoluetly concerned, wondering why in the world such a young girl was wincing like that and rubbing her arms like she was hiding something. Obviously, Dally didn't need to think twice to understand that why Iris was doing that stuff tied into the secret that Sondra was keeping from the gang, maintaining it fully in herself. Heck, Dallas didn't even need to think it over once. He just knew it. Dally could also tell that whatever Sondra's secret was, it was either making Iris feel terrified, worried, or uncomfortable. Actually, Dally thought it was all three, and whether he admitted it or not, that was causing this little part of his heart towards Iris and Sondra to tug a bit, causing him to feel even more concerned._

_"Are you sure you're okay?" Dallas questioned, but instead of getting anything verbal in response, Iris hesitated before she slowly nodded her head. That's when Dally could've sworn he saw a single tear roll down from one of Iris's eyes, continuing its way down her face, just as her bottom lip began to wobble a bit._

_"..Mm hm..." Iris hesitated once more before she nodded her head once more, approving Dally's question. She was no where near okay, and Dally could tell. She was starting to cry a bit, and Iris knew how much her bruises hurt underneath her clothes, but what hurt her even more was when she was lying to Dally when he was asking her if she was alright. Iris started thinking that the two of them were becoming friends, but she didn't know if Dally would approve them being friends, and friends don't lie to each other about very serious matters. _

_Nonetheless, Dally didn't want to end up causing Iris to burst into a waterfall of tears just so he could attempt finding out what was really on her nerves. Besides, he already was given her address, just like he wanted, so he didn't want to try finding anything else out yet, even though it was heavily eating away at him._

_"Alright then," Dally sighed "let's just get you to the Curtis's couch for a nap."_

_"Sure, alright," Iris softly spoke, simply shrugging her shoulders while she was at it, and she allowed Dally to take a gentle hold of one of her hands to help her slide down from her chair at the Curtis's table, before he grabbed her pink and white cane and stuffed animal with his opposite hand, escourting the youngest Prescott then into the living room with him._

_"Here's the couch," Dally informed the seven-year-old girl as he helped her sit down on the Curtis's plush and cozy sofa. Iris helped herself then to laying back, resting her head on two pillows as Dallas leaned her pink and white cane against the Curtis's coffee table, followed by him placing the stuffed animal beside the couch. Afterwards, Dally fetched Iris a blanket, warmly tucking her until only her head was sticking out. Iris had already shut her gray/silver-colored eyes, leaving Dally to just keeping his mouth shut so he wouldn't disturb Iris's little nap._

_It didn't take long at all for Iris to be out like a light, since her pill sometimes makes her sleepy, and on top of that, she didn't get much of a good sleep the night before since she still couldn't believe she and Sondra ran away from their house and were now staying in a place she never stayed at before. Sure, they could've ran away to one of their friends houses, like Charlie's or Rebecca's, but that would instantly give it away to her mini gang that something was wrong with their house, considering they always saw new injuries and heard many lies in the far past and even shorter past._

_The Curtis's Greasers gang didn't see many injuries from Sondra or Iris, but that didn't wipe away some of their concern on why the two of them were out in town all by themselves with packed bags and in their pajamas. Out of all of the Greasers though, believe it or not, Dally was the one who was the most concerned. He was the only one truly picking up that Sondra was keeping a secret to herself, and Iris must've been tied into it, along with why she has brain damage and blindness, AND why she winced and began rubbing her arms and shoulders while she rocked herself back and forth a bit just because Dally gave her shoulders gentle squeezes, which he was only doing so he could tell her to come on and follow him._

_Dally plopped himself down in the recliner, keeping his eyes on Iris as she soothingly breathed in and out, relaxing peacefully on the Curtis's couch, her little bare hands now holding each other as they brushed the side of her face with her now resting on her left side, facing towards the back of the soft couch. Seeing such an adorable little girl sleeping like that had the cracking shell that was plastered around ol' Dally's heart just caused it to crack even more, and a rare golden light seemed to be shining through. As much as Dally hated to admit it, even to himself, he was now wrapped around Iris's little finger. A rare, small grin twitched its way up on Dally's mouth as he bit down on his bottom lip a little, and he narrowed his eyes in a thinking manner when continuing to stare at Iris._

_"Why would she wince like that?" Dally quietly asked himself in such a soft manner so only he could hear his own words. "I mean, I didn't squeeze her shoulders THAT hard to hurt her or anything."_

_Dally's mind then locked on the thought that maybe something was hidden underneath the fabric. Iris's sleeves, he means. What if something was covering her skin upon her shoulders that would cause her to wince like that. Dally's eyes slimly grew big at the thought, and he instantly stood up from the recliner, keeping that thought heavily still on his mind as he tiptoed over to Iris's peaceful looking body. Not making another single move at first after he made it to the couch and just stared at Iris, Dallas knew he'd have to see if she was fast asleep before he could check at least one of her arms._

_"Psst!" Dally quietly hissed. "Iris? Iris! Iris, are you awake? Iris!" _

_No response at all. All Dally got in return was complete silence, meaning Iris was out like a light, by the looks of her still silver/gray-colored eyes still shut, and she was breathing in and out peacefully, still being warmly tucked underneath the blanket that Dally got for her as well. _

_"Wow," Dally let out a sigh that was full of absolute relief, his eyes still slightly wide. "That girl sure does fall asleep quick, even faster than Two-Bit after he drinks over fifteen beers in a row."_

_That's when Dally just shrugged his shoulders to himself, right before he carefully and gently reached his hands down, first of all slowly stripping the blanket back from Iris's upper body. Dally paused each time he heard a tired moan or groan escape from Iris's lips, but she didn't wake up, and Dally stopped taking the blanket back. That's when Dally fixed his eyes on the one of Iris's arms that was available to see since she wasn't laying on it. Dallas took in and let out a deep, but soft breath, being extra careful and gentle, his fingers so light as they pinched a hold of Iris's colorful sleeve and pulled it up._

_Shock instantly pooled up in both of Dally's eyes, causing them to shoot bigger than ever before in his life, and his jaw fell, his mouth now gaping open in a giant 'O' shape. At that moment, something else hit Dally that he'd never admit to anybody, and he'd hate it if he'd have to confess it, which he was forced to do at that moment with himself. He was absoluetly startled._

_All up Iris's arms were the colors of black, blue, and purple. Bruises. Along the terrible markings were some red cuts, but most of the injuries that were printed on Iris's arm was bruises. _

_"Oh my god..." Dally gasped so softly to himself when staring at the terrible bruises and cuts. After about five more seconds of staring at Iris's arm, Dally digested the horrifying picture and carefully tugged her sleeve back down. No wonder she winced when he squeezed her shoulders. He must've touched some of her injuries that were printed up all over her skin. That's when Dally checked Iris's shoulder with the same amount of extra care and gentleness to realize that he was correct. At that moment, Dally was desperately wishing that he wasn't right about this. He knew that something was wrong with Iris underneath the fabric of her clothes, and what actually scared Dally a bit was him realizing the fact that he knew that it must've tied into Sondra's secret. _

_That was enough for Dally to know. Without any hesitation, he quickly, but carefully at the same time, tucked the blanket back around Iris's body completely, and then headed his way towards the Curtis's door. He had the address, and Iris was asleep...next stop, the Prescott's household. _

Dally continued to walk and walk, until he put his cigarette out, blowing out his final puff of a gray cloud from his lips. He knew he was getting closer to Sondra and Iris's house, just like he wanted. The only thing Dallas didn't actually understand was what he would find when he knocked on the front door and waited for somebody to open it.

"Dally! Dally! Dallas Winston, wait up!" A male voice suddenly called out, interrupting Dally's deep thought on what he could possibly find at Sondra and Iris's house. Without any hesitation, Dally gazed over his shoulder to see Two-Bit rushing up behind him, breathing in and out deeply, considering he smoked so much and his lungs failed at taking in so much oxygen after a run or jog or anything like that. That's why Two-Bit either walked or drove all over the place.

"Two-Bit Mathews?" Dally confusedly cocked an eyebrow as he watched until the wisecracker made it by his left side on the sidewalk, which was when he just stared back in front of him. "Two-Bit, where have you been today? Nobody knew where you went. I mean, Ponyboy must be at the park with Cassidy and Jocelyn now, Sodapop, Steve, and Kitten are at the DX, Darry's at work himself, and Johnnycake is out somewhere with that Baby girl to get some stuff or something like that. Where have _you _been though?" Dally lectured.

Nonetheless, Two-Bit was now lost in remembering what he saw at the mall between Sondra and Johnny, goofily grinning ear to ear as he stared down at his worn out tennis shoes, desperately wanting to share about the kiss with somebody, but Two-Bit knew for a fact that he wasn't going to tell Dally out of all people about it. Dally still hated the fact that Sondra and Johnny were both friends, just like he hates the other fact that everybody else in the gang is also a new friend of Sondra's. Two-Bit would rather tell Jocelyn, and she's just a little baby who would just stare at him with her big, sweet, cute eyes, not understanding a single word that he was saying.

"Um, Two-Bit!" Dally exclaimed, raising his voice a bit to earn over Two-Bit's attention, which worked greatly. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Oh, um..." Two-Bit hesitated as he gazed back down at his tennis shoes, knowing for a fact that he'd have to come up with a lie very fast. He couldn't lie to Dally's face to save his life. Actually, nobody can really lie to Dallas Christopher Winston's face and get away with it, even if they did sound pretty dang convincing. Dally was pretty much like a human lie detector.

"Um, what?" Dally cocked one of his eyebrows yet again, but this time was out of annoyance since he didn't get any type of direct answer from Two-Bit yet.

"Um...it's nothing, I just...came up with a new joke!" Two-Bit's goofy smile spread widely across his face as he stared back up at Dallas, who was looking right back at him like he lost his mind or something. "You want to hear it, Dally?" Two-Bit asked.

"No." Dally flatly responded, glancing back in front of him.

"Knock, knock!"

Dally rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his leather jacket's pockets. "Mathews, I told you that I didn't want to hear this new joke of yours!"

"Knock, knock!" Two-Bit repeated himself, only so he could make Dally believe his lie even more about him coming up with a joke that made him smile like that.

"Who's there?" Dally uncaringly sighed, desperately wishing he had a brick or something like that so he could knock Two-Bit out.

"Cantelope!" Two-Bit faked his cheer, even though it did sound very convincing.

"Cantelope who?" Dallas grumbled.

"_Cant elope _without a girl!" Two-Bit burst out into a phony fit of his realistic laughter, but when he witnessed Dally just roll his eyes at him, the wisecracker felt it would've been a great time to change the topic. Besides, Two-Bit knew that Dally heard that joke before from Tim and Curly Sheppard.

"So, Dally," The wisecracker faked a cough, which didn't sound real at all. "Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Iris at the moment?"

"Yes," Dally simply responded without pausing to think the question through at all. "Nevertheless, she's fast asleep on the Curtis's couch, taking a nap at the moment, so I decided that it was a great time to head over to hers and this Baby's house."

"Oh, I see, that seems-" Two-Bit simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned, but his smile instantly vanished from his face as his eyes shot wide a bit, and he stared back at Dally once more. "What do you mean, you're heading over to Baby and Iris's house?!" Two-Bit blurted out with absolute concern and some shock.

"I got the address from Iris, Two-Bit." Dally simply shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal, even though he was completely eager to get there and see what he'll find since he saw the terrible markings on one of Iris's arms. "And since Iris is sleeping now, I figured it'd be a great time to go to their house." Dally added.

"But Baby said that their parents were out of town, Dally. We'd be invading their home." Two-Bit pointed out.

"Two-Bit, think about it," Dally instructed, rolling his eyes while he was at it. "Why would Baby and Iris leave their home very early in the morning while wearing their pajamas if their folks were out of town? And Johnnycake told me that Baby told him that hers and Iris's folks are just so golden, perfect, caring, loving, and all of that good stuff...why would such awesome parents like that leave their two young daughters all by themselves in a place like Tulsa when they go out of town? Besides...even if they weren't home, we're Greasers. We're expected to break the law."

Two-Bit paused for a moment, digesting and thinking heavily about the facts that Dally just pointed out. He was correct, Two-Bit thought to himself. Parents who are just so amazing wouldn't leave their kids all alone in a place where there are tons of robberies, rumbles, shootings, and whatnot while they head out of town.

"Okay..." Two-Bit blinked "I see where you're getting at towards Baby and Iris's parents not leaving town like Baby told us, but why would Baby and Iris leave their home then like that? That's running away."

"No duh, Sherlock," Dally grumbled towards Two-Bit's final three words in his previous saying. "And that's what I'm going to find out. Whatever it is though, it can't be good."

"What makes you say that, Dal?" Two-Bit concerndly/confusingly cocked an eyebrow.

"Iris winced when I gave her shoulders a little squeeze." Dally informed "I instantly knew that something was wrong, so after Iris was out like a light, which was pretty quick, I checked one of her arms to find many bruises and some cuts printed right on her skin."

"You're serious?!" Two-Bit's eyes were now wide, his mouth now slimly hanging open from shock after he heard Dally describe Iris's arm.

"Yes, I'm being serious!" Dally proclaimed.

"But...how?! Iris is just a seven-year-old girl. She may be blind, but she has her cane, so she can't really bump into anything herself that would cause her to get injuries like that." Two-Bit pointed out.

"I know," Dally nodded his head. "And what I also know is that Iris couldn't have done this to herself...somebody must've done it to her."

"But who? Who could be so heartless to actually hurt a little seven-year-old blind girl like that?" Two-Bit asked. Greasers might've been Greasers, and certain Greasers care more about other people than what other Greasers do. Two-Bit loved kids more than Dally did, but that didn't stop Dallas from actually being concerned about Iris and even Sondra.

"I don't know," Dally shrugged his shoulders. "However, whoever hurts Iris must be hurting Baby too, since they're sisters."

"So, what are you saying, Dally? They're both jumped? Bullied? What is it?" Two-Bit questioned.

"I don't know, Two-Bit." Dally shook his head, his voice sounding like it usually was, cool and alright, but on the inside, he was sighing with worry. "That's why I want to see if their parents are home. Since they love their daughters so much, we can maybe get some answers from them, like if they know anybody who could possibly want to lay a single hurtful finger on either or their daughters, or if they're even aware with what's going on with them."

"...I can't believe that Baby didn't tell us...we could've helped beat the living crap out of whoever was hurting her and Iris." Two-Bit informed.

"Well, at least we know now that she was hiding this from us, and we're going to put an end to it by finding out who's laying hurtful hands on both Baby and Iris." Dally instructed.

"I thought you didn't like Baby though." Two-Bit reminded, cocking an eyebrow at the top bad-boy in all of Tulsa.

"I don't." Dally shook his head.

Two-Bit paused for about three silent seconds, until he asked Dally, "Then why do you care if someone's hurting her and her sister?"

"I don't." Dallas repeated himself.

That was a lie. Two-Bit could tell that Dallas was lying right then and there about him actually not caring about Sondra and Iris with them being physically hurt by someone else. Dally just didn't want to confess to Two-Bit of all people that he was already wrapped around Iris's little finger, and now it was almost like he was getting stretched around Sondra's too.

"Mind if I come with you to the Prescott's house?" Two-Bit asked.

Dally shrugged his shoulders, hesitating for about three quiet seconds until he responded with, "I don't care."

The rest of the walk was silent. Dally kept his eyes locked in front of him and Two-Bit both, while the wisecracker kicked a pebble around on the sidewalk. Nonetheless, Two-Bit stopped when Dally swung his arm out in front of him and stopped walking, which instantly had Two-Bit freeze and fix his eyes on Dallas, who was staring at this house that was there beside them, up a little driveway that had no cars at all parked in front of it, but two old, rusty, worn out looking bikes.

The white paint of the house was chipping heavily, leaving certain parts of it gray, and the porch railing was broken off, now laying beside the chipped stairs, in the soil and dirt that could've been used for planting flowers in the spring and summer seasons. As for the grass, it was dried out and all crunchy, shaded with the color of what was like a bright, bright yellow, some bricks actually covering the lawn after they fell from the worn out, old, brick roof.

"This is the place," Dally told the wisecracker.

"..._This _is the Prescott's house?" Two-Bit asked, his voice sending out the message, 'You _can't _be serious!'

"Mm hm," Dally hummed "Iris told me the address, and this is it."

"...Wow..." Two-Bit's eyes widened as he studied the scene of the outside of the household, and you could now hear the shock in the tone of his voice. "Um...this is certainly some house...it's...nice?" Two-Bit shrugged at his wordplay when attempting to be kind towards the house, which Dally rolled his eyes secretly to since Sondra and/or Iris weren't there to hear him 'compliment' their house.

Not saying another word, Dally started his way up the lawn, the bright, bright yellow grass crunching underneath his shoes, leaving his footprints a bit. Instantly, Two-Bit trailed on after him, truly wanting to help Sondra and Iris by helping Dally find out who could've possibly hurt the two of them. Plus, Two-Bit just didn't want to be left alone to just stand there while Dallas did all of the talking with Mr. and Mrs. Prescott.

Two-Bit and Dally stood side by side, now standing there on the Prescott's front porch as they stared at the closed front door.

"Now, Two-Bit," Dally instructed "allow me to talk to Baby and Iris's folks first, would ya?"

Two-Bit nodded his head, which had Dally saying "Good.", right before he raised one of his fists and knocked on the front door of the Prescott's household three times.

"Go away!" Dominic blustered from the opposite side of the closed door, which instantly had Two-Bit and Dally glancing at each other with cocked eyebrows. Nonetheless, that didn't stop Dally from knocking once more on the front door.

"Listen to me, you coppers, I've got a knife, and I know how to use it!" Dominic bitterly warned, his voice rising with more and more rage with every word he proclaimed from his lips.

"...Um...we're not the fuzz, sir," Two-Bit said loud enough for Dominic to hear his voice. Instantly, the front door then flew open, and there stood Dominic, holding a recently sharpened switchblade in one hand, and in his other, he held a recently opened bottle of beer. Dally's eyebrow remained cocked with absolute concern. As for Two-Bit, he was now staring with wide eyes, both of the Greasers studying how Dominic looked. He was only wearing one sock, which was ripped around the toes, along with a worn out pair of ripped up dark blue jeans with an undone black belt. He was shirtless as well, his eyes surrounded by dark black and blue circles, meaning that he was rip-roarin' drunk, and his red hair was all mangled up. You could see since he was shirtless that he also had a tatoo of a vicious bull-dog with blood in its sharp and pointy teeth on one of his arms.

"Holy crap..." Two-Bit mumbled to himself under his breath, referring to Dominic's apperance, which earned him a nudge in the ribs by Dally, that meaning for him to keep his mouth shut.

"Who are you two?" Dominic narrowed his eyes in a bitter and sharp manner as he scanned back and forth from Dallas to Two-Bit, studying how they looked and if they were holding anything.

"Are _you_ Mr. Prescott?" Dallas questioned, still having one of his eyebrows cocked.

"Yes, unfortuently." Dominic responded, taking a swig of his beer and swallowing after answering Dally's question, before he said, "Now...who are you two?!"

"I'm Robert Jones, and this is my friend, Tyler Lopez," Dally lied, rolling his eyes with the thought of Dominic actually believing he would be earning over the truth of both him and Two-Bit's actual names. Two-Bit glanced at Dally from the corner of his eye, thinking with absolute confusion in what he just said about their names, but after studying Dominic's apperance and attitude again, Two-Bit let it go.

"What the hell do you two want?!" Dominic harshly demanded to know.

"What my friend and I _want _is the answer to if you're aware of what's happening to your daughters." Dally replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My daughters..." Dominic snarled at the mention of Iris and Sondra. "Those two broads...why would I care what's happening to them?! I mean, they ran off last night, for Pete's sake!"

"But you're their father..." Dally uncrossed his arms, allowing his eyes to slightly grow wide with shock towards what Dominic just said about Sondra and Iris.

"What the hell does that have to do with this?! So my wife and I beat them and treat them like dogs...so what?!" Dominic was so drunk that he had no idea what he was saying.

"Excuse me?!" Dallas's face instantly lit up to the shade of a bright red, thinking to himself that he just _knew _that Sondra was too much like Johnny, and now it made sense. Sondra and Iris's father was a bitter drunk who drank over twenty bottles of beer in less than fifteen minutes each and every day.

"We killed our son, Gabriel, beating him to actual death, but we didn't mean to...actually, before that, my wife took a drug to attempt having a miscarriage with our third child, but all it did was leave her blind with some brain damage...I started attempting to have some _fuunnn _with my first daughter every weekend after her eleventh birthday, but she was always getting away before I could...my wife and I even forced smoking on her when she turned ten...or eleven, wasn't it? Eh, who knows..." Dominic lectured.

Without any hesitation, no matter how much he attempted holding it back, Dally swung his clenched fist across Dominic's face, nailing him hard across the cheek, which instantly left Two-Bit looking absoluetly even more shocked, and Dominic like he was a bomb that was about to explode. The secret was out for both Dally and Two-Bit. The Prescott daughters were straight up abused by a bitter drunk for a father, and a drug taker for a mother.

"Two-Bit, I just lost the element of surprise!" Dally exclaimed, taking a quick look at the surprised/shocked wisecracker, before he stared right back at Dominic and added the three words, "Go get help!"

And that's what Two-Bit instantly did, running off to go get help by fetching Darry, since he didn't work that far at all from Sondra and Iris's house, and that just left Dally fighting the drunk Dominic...

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**A/N: Cliffhanger! What's going to happen next? Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter! Not much of this story is left! Remember, there WILL be a sequel, but I have school coming back in just a few weeks, so please remember that this will be taking more time since my school work will be piling up on me. :P Anyway, stay tuned and please review! :D :D :D :D**


	37. Even A Single Fight Can Be Killer

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all, this story is almost finished, please review, and happy reading chapter 37! :D**

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_Chapter 37_

Dally never thought he'd ever be in that kind of situation. He was actually _fighting _Mr. Prescott, all because he got this sudden rage inside of him that was absoluetly ticked after finding out that Sondra and Iris were abused. Sure, it was very blunt the way that it just came out of Dominic's tobacco and beer scented mouth just like that, but the man was rip-roarin' drunk that he had no idea what in the heck he was saying, nor would he probably remember the fight or not.

Two-Bit had ran off to get help, chanting out over and over again in a shocked/startled mixed tone, "Darry! Darry! Darry!", as his heart beat rapidly in his chest like a wild horse that couldn't be broken. Two-Bit's actually never ran that fast before in his whole life since his lungs failed at taking in so much oxygen when he did anything that involved running, jogging, or anything like that, but all Two-Bit needed to think about at that time was Sondra and Iris, knowing for a fact that they were abused.

On the inside, Two-Bit was honestly thinking right then the same thing that was suddenly on Dally's mind. They should've known that Sondra and Iris were abused, because they were _exactly _like Johnny, Cassidy, and Jocelyn. Too distant and quiet, shy and sensitive, that's for sure. They've always wore long sleeves and long pants, and they tug at the fabric of their clothes, trying to keep it secret when they're truly spotted by at least one person of the Curtis's Greasers gang. They also rarely want to take a bite of their food, meaning something must've been on their minds, and when they actually _did _eat, they ate like they never ate before in their whole lives.

Believe it or not, after Dallas spotted the bruises and cuts on Iris's arm, he instantly had a spark light up in his mind, telling him that they were abused, but he didn't know for sure, so that's why he didn't tell Two-Bit that it was a possibility. It made sense, Dally thought to himself when he first laid his widen eyes on the terrible markings of Iris's arm. That's the other reason why Dally headed right out of the Curtis's house after seeing Iris's arm. He knew that abuse could've been a possibility, but he didn't want to believe it. For the first time ever, Dallas Winston regretted being correct about something. He truly hated how Sondra and Iris were treated like two punching bags at one moment, and then they're plainly ignored the next, as if they were invisable.

"Darry! Darry!" Two-Bit called out once more after he reached the site where Darry worked, which wasn't that far away from Sondra and Iris's house at all. The wisecracker breathed heavily in and out, resting his hands on his knees, and it felt as if his heart was pounding right through his chest. That's when Two-Bit thought he should lay off some of his cancer-sticks for awhile...even though he'd probably not last a few days, and he knew that completely.

Two-Bit needed about seven seconds to catch his breath before he stared up at the roof of the house that was being built at the site, and that's when he saw Darry, shirtless and working hard like usual underneath the sunlight and through the soft, cool breeze that was whistling around.

"Darry!" Two-Bit cuffed his hands around his mouth so the tone of his voice would echo more. "Darry! Darry!" The wisecracker went on when the oldest Curtis didn't look down in his direction yet. After calling his name for the third time though, that did it. Darry stopped what he was doing and gazed down, seeing Two-Bit waving at him now from the sidewalk. At first, Darry rolled his eyes, thinking Two-Bit had just stopped by to wave at him, but that feeling instantly faded when Two-Bit was motioning him to come on down from the roof.

"What is it, Two-Bit?" Darry questioned, his voice shouting through the air so Two-Bit could hear him from the sidewalk.

"It's an emergency!" Two-Bit cried out. Usually, Two-Bit's emergencies weren't real emergencies _at __all_. Thinking about what Two-Bit just said only caused Darry to start going back to fixing the roof he was working on yet again, but that's when Darry started thinking about the fact that nobody from the gang would disturb him at work if this wasn't an actual emergency, even the wisecracker. Instantly, Darry stopped what he was doing yet again, fixing his eyes back on Two-Bit.

"What kind of emergency?" Darry cocked an eyebrow, the tone of his voice now full of absolute concern.

"It involves Baby and Iris! It's very serious, Darry! Please, you have to come with me! Now!" Two-Bit actually began pleading and begging, which he rarely does.

Not a single word more needed to convince Darry to stop what he was doing completely. Right when Two-Bit said the emergency involved Sondra and Iris, he froze, his eyes now widened, and his mouth slightly gaping open. Sondra and Iris might've not been blood related, but they were still like the Curtis's sisters, just like how the male members of their gang is like their other brothers. Darry cared completely about those two girls, and he instantly hurried, watching where he stepped as he traveled his way down from the roof, heading down the latter as fast as he could go.

Two-Bit took in a deep breath and let it out, relieved that the eldest Curtis believed him and was coming. With Darry's help on top of his, if Dally isn't doing his best on fighting Dominic on his own, now Dominic and if Spring shows up, they both won't stand a chance.

"Darrel Curtis, what are you doing? I'm not paying you to take a break!" Darry's boss, Mr. Clovis, bellowed whence he witnessed Darry touch the ground after climbing down the latter.

"I'm so sorry, sir." Darry apologized, snatching up his shirt from where he placed it along with some of the other workers shirts. "But I got a family emergancy I must handle."

Anytime Darry needed to do anything for any of his friends in the gang, he referred to them as family, since they were always chilling at his, Soda's, and Ponyboy's place or they were running into them and began hanging out with them. Then again, in a tight neighborhood like theirs, it really didn't surprise Darry on how the gang felt like they turned into more of his, Pony's, and Soda's family.

"Darrel, it's been over a month since you've ever been in a family emergancy. Actually, it was back when your little brother Ponypop or Sodaboy had gotten sick." Mr. Clovis reminded.

"My kid brothers names are Ponyboy and Sodapop, sir." Darry innocently, but yet quickly, corrected, considering he wanted to follow Two-Bit and solve this emergancy like Superman would do.

"Either way," Mr. Clovis stated, crossing his arms over his chest before he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Darrel, but we're low on workers today due to many fevers, and we can't lose somebody else."

"But, sir, this is my family! My girls!" Darry was starting to refer to Sondra and Iris being his girls, just like Kitten, Cassidy, and Jocelyn were labeled with in his mind, which no one really minded.

Two-Bit watched in suspense from the sidewalk, looking back and forth from Darry to Mr. Clovis, waiting for somebody to say something else. If he could've said something to help, he would've, but Two-Bit knew that if he did so, that could've cost Darry to lose his job, and he needed the money to help pay the bills, buy groceries, and all of that stuff.

Darry waited to see if Mr. Clovis would speak up with anymore words, but when he didn't, the oldest Curtis that this would've been a good time to attempt convincing him. Darry wasn't the type to convince anybody to do anything at all, especially his boss, but Sondra and Iris were important, and he knew he had to handle whatever this emergancy was.

"Mr. Clovis, please," Darry pleaded "I must go see my girls. I mean, you must know what I'm getting at. You have your daughters, right? Five-year-old Carol, two-month-old Stephanie, and ten-year-old Bella?"

Mr. Clovis studied Darry from the bottom of his worn out shoes, to the top of his neatly brushed like usual hair, now thinking heavily about his little girls that Darry just brought up. Mr. Clovis attempted not to pout at the mention of his daughters, considering Carol's sixth birthday was the next day, but he had to work, and his wife was busy cooking and cleaning all by herself while she took care of Stephanie, and made sure Bella was on her best behavior here and there since she was the oldest out of the three girls.

"...How old are your girls, Darrel?" Mr. Clovis asked, staring at his wedding ring as he thought about his wife. Darry could tell that Mr. Clovis thought that he was referring to actual daughters of his own, but Darry thought that he could live with that, since he pretty much took care of the entire gang, being their leader and all.

"Fourteen-going-on-fifteen and seven. I really need to help them with something right now, so if you wouldn't mind...can you please let me off with a warning or something like that, sir?" Darry questioned "Please don't fire me though! I need this job to raise my family since my folks are dead!"

"You're not fired, Darrel. Heck, you're one of my best workers." Mr. Clovis grew one of his rare smiles as he stared back up at Darry, his teal eyes now dazzling off happiness. "And since you've never had to go for a family emergancy for over a month...I'll let you off the hook and allow you to go see your girls without a warning or anything like that."

"Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Clovis! Sir, I mean!" That instantly brought a huge, rare, handsome smile to Darry's face.

"No need to thank me, Darrel. Now, go see your girls. In the mean time, I'm going to call my wife, because I'm not going to miss Carol's birthday tomorrow." Mr. Clovis headed off to go to his office, leaving Darry to keep on smiling a bit until he slipped on his shirt and ran over to Two-Bit, who was still where he was there on the sidewalk, his face still beating red from his run, and his eyes remaining wide when thinking about Dominic and Dallas going back and forth at it probably back at the Prescott's house.

"Two-Bit, what's this emergancy about Baby and Iris now?" Darry questioned with sort of an eager tone, and absolute concern was shining off of his eyes.

"I'll explain it all on the way back to the Prescott's house!" Two-Bit told him.

"The Prescott's house?!" Darry couldn't believe that Two-Bit actually found out where Sondra and Iris lived. "Two-Bit, Mr. and Mrs. Prescott are out of town!"

Two-Bit instantly shook his head back and forth. "No, they're not! Darry, you won't believe this! Let's just hop in your truck and get to the Prescott's house! Dally's there now, him and Mr. Prescott beating the tar out of each other!"

"What?!" The eldest Curtis gasped as he yanked his keys out of his worn out jeans pockets, staring at the wisecracker with wider eyes, his mouth now slightly gaping open too.

"Just come on!" Two-Bit instructed, and with that, the two of them bashed over to Darry's truck, hopping in and not taking any consideration to buckle their seatbelts. Darry started the truck and just high-tailed it down the road, taking Two-Bit's directions to get back to the Prescott's house.

Meanwhile with Dally and Dominic, the two of them had taken their fight inside, smashing objects, rolling around on the stained carpet, slamming the other into the walls, or just flinging the other around in general, harshly punching and painfully kicking.

"Out of all days..." Dally snarled to himself under his breath. "I just _had _to go out without my switchblade!"

"What the hell is going on with my daughters that's so horrible?! Huh?! Tell me!" Dominic demanded to know, nearly spitting with every word he bellowed as he threw one of his clenched fists back, then brought it back forward to attempt slamming Dallas across the face, but Dally dodged the striking hit by accidentally tripping, landing on his back there on the carpet.

"It's called child abuse, you son of a-" Dallas attempted cursing Dominic out, but he was caught off by a surprised yelp that escaped from him when Dominic flew his absoluetly sharp and extremely pointy switchblade high in the air and attempted bringing the sharp and pointy blade down on him, but Dally quickly rolled away, causing Dominic to only stab the carpet.

"My fricken daughters, my fricken buisness!" Dominic hissed, his breath reaking of tobacco and beer, attempting yet again to fling his switchblade down on Dally and end his life by hitting him straight through the heart, but Dally rolled his way to safety yet again.

"Well, it's no longer just your own _fricken _buisness, old man!" Dally bellowed as he quickly pushed himself up in a sitting position on the floor, until he kicked one of his legs up, nailing Dominic's hand right in the knuckles, cracking them hard and making him holler out a loud, drunk, painful yell, as he dropped his switchblade, leaving it there on the floor. Dally's kick was so strong that he was sure that he had probably broken some of Dominic's bones in his hand, shattering his knuckles as some blood started surprisingly dripping from some new wet flesh. Even Dally didn't know himself that he was that strong of a kicker, even though he was one hell of an amazing fighter. That's why a rumble isn't ever a rumble without him.

As Dominic stared at his bleeding wrist, cradling it with his other hand as he felt like his bones were now gritting together painfully and all crushed up underneath his skin, Dally shot right up from the floor, pouncing back up instantly on both of his feet, clenching his fists in front of him so tightly that they were beginning to turn white, even trembling some from being squeezed so, so hard, but Dally could've cared less.

"They're not _your_ daughters!" Dominic snarled, and to Dally's surprise, the drunk Mr. Prescott charged him, catching him a little unexpected and tackling him by flinging around his waist, sending them both to the carpeted floor.

"OW!" Dally howled in rage, because on the way down of the fall, thanks to Dominic, the back of Dally's head banged into a glass table, which surprisingly didn't shatter since it was only a rough bang the back of Dally's head recieved. Dallas literally began growling like a junkyard dog, his teeth now tightly clenched, gritting together, and his dark eyes were sharply narrowed, sending off ticked off daggers as he stared at Dominic, who looked just as furious as he remained where he now was on top of Dallas, trying to clench his neck so he could choke him and strangle him to death, but Dally had him by the wrists, clenching them tightly so he wouldn't even lay a single finger on his neck.

"They may not be my daughters," Dally exclaimed, quickly taking one of his hands away from tightly grasping one of Dominic's fists to only have it flying back, nailing Dominic in the face so hard that it caused him to fall off of Dally instantly. "They may not be my daughters," Dally repeated himself as he quickly climbed back up from the floor, Dominic right on his tail, blood now dripping from the bottom of his right eye a bit.

"They're not you're daughters!" Dominic shot his arms back out and grasped Dally around his neck, trying to squeeze hard so he could choke him, but Dally instantly started squirming around rapidly, yanking his head back and forth a bit as he started clenching one of Dominic's wrists with one of his hands, trying his best to take in some air until he snatched up a vase from the glass table and flew it against Dominic's head, smashing it into millions of sharp and pointy pieces as it met Dominic's head. Instantly, Dominic fell to the floor, but that didn't stop him from reaching up and grabbing Dally's arm, yanking him right down to the floor after him. Blood was now dripping from an even deeper cut that was there behind Dominic's ear, since the sharp pieces went flying every where after the glass met his head.

"No, they're not!" Dally approved, shaking his head eagerly, as he sent another punch towards Dominic when the two of them got up on their knees, facing each other angrily. "But as much as I hate to admit it, I still care about them, unlike you!" Dallas bellowed, hopping back up on his feet after Dominic got sent to the floor again, but that didn't stop Dominic from quickly sprawling his way back up on his own feet, spitting up some blood and a few of his teeth from his mouth while he was at it.

"Why you little-" Dominic went on cursing and spitting at Dally, harshly and bitterly bellowing every word in the book at him as they had a scowl off, but when Dally didn't see it coming, Dominic flew one of his fists forward, having it meet Dally's nose, which was already sort of bruised since Johnny had nailed him right in the nose with his own fist just a couple days previously. Dally released only a little moan of pain, holding back his hollers so he wouldn't give Dominic what he wanted.

Nonetheless, before Dally could even lay a single finger back on Dominic to continue this fight, Dominic clenched him by the back of his leather jacket with one hand, and the bottom of it with his other hand, before he yanked Dally back a bit, but then led him on forward, releasing him to only force his body to fall and slide across the coffee table, the two ashtrays now shattered into little pieces of glass, and cigarette butts and ashes were now all over around the coffee table, along with some beer cans.

A sharp piece of one of the ashtrays that shattered had sliced across Dally's cheek a little, just a little bit below his left eye as he rested there, now laying flat on his stomach as his face beat red rapidly, his eyes now full of even more rage, if that was even possible, and he was grumbling every word in the book to himself, until he forced himself back around, standing back up on both of his feet.

"You've had enough?" Dominic questioned, rolling his shoulders, his good hand that Dally didn't kick still clenched tightly into rock-hard fist.

"Hell no!" Dally proclaimed, shaking his head back and forth. "If there's one of the millions of things I know for sure, it's that you _never ever _hurt your own child or children!"

Dally's usually the one who doesn't give a hang who you are, whether you're an elder or a kid, a member of the fuzz or a bum who's begging for food and coins. Nevertheless, Dally knew pretty much everything, which includes what it's like to be pushed around and beat like a punching bug for one moment, to be left alone in the dark like you're invisable the next. The leather belt still echoed in Dally's ears, whipping away, as well as the many curse words and saliva being spit at him, everything being completely from his step father here and there.

"My children are nothing but demons! My son, even though my wife and I never meant to kill him as we beat him rapidly, he still probably deserved what came to him! That boy kept trying to be some Greaser when this family is all Regular! As for my daughters, the first one is just a major pain in the butt, and my second one is completely whiny and supposingly needs 'extra care' and 'major love'!" Dominic bitterly lectured, adding air quotes with his good hands middle and pointer fingers around 'extra care' and 'major love'.

"...Your second daughter is a seven-year-old who's _blind _and she has _brain damage _thanks to your ridiculous wife tryin' to have some miscarriage by taking some drug when she was pregnant with her, asshole!" Dally pointed out, nearly spitting with every word he exclaimed from his lips on purpose. "As for your son, by the looks of your daughters and they're attitudes, I can tell that he didn't deserve to die, and your first daughter isn't a pain in the rear! I admit, I hate how I'm so used to her now, but she's just so quiet and distant because of you and your ridiculous wife!"

"You're as bitchy as your parents must be, boy," Dominic slowly shook his head back and forth, shooting off ticked off daggers as he clenched his teeth together, thinking heavily and angrily about what Dally just said to him.

"At least I'm not some bitter drunk who's married to a drug taker, and is busy beating the life out of my own daughters after I sucked the energy out of my own son years ago." Dally snarled.

Dominic's black, purple, and blue surrounded eyes instantly grew wide, his mouth now slightly hanging open as he stared at Dally, the two slowly circling each other as Dominic thought heavily about what Dallas just said to him, completely furious.

"What did you just say?" Dominic was daring Dally to say what he just said all over again, the tone of his voice completely warning and snarl-like. "Did you just_ mock_ my life?..._Mock_ who my wife and I am?"

"Oh, no, your life is just so golden. Peaches and cream, that's for sure," Dally sarcastically spoke, rolling his eyes in an annoyed/angry manner while he was add it to just tick Dominic off even more, which succeeded greatly. "You did a very banged up job with your own life. Same goes for your wife, Mr. Prescott."

"You're no better than me, boy, so I wouldn't be the one to talk about a banged up life by the looks and the attitude you're showing off." Dominic began harshly lecturing. "I'm a good father...my son might be dead, but at least I keep my daughters under this roof. That is, until they ran away. I gave them beds to sleep in, different clothes to wear every day-"

"And you abused them! You gave them hits and kicks here and there, cursing and spitting at them like they were some dogs, treating them like dirt at one moment, but then act like they're not even there, neglecting them fully at the next minute!" Dally hissed, cutting Dominic off to just have him now stare at Dallas, his good hand that was still clenched in a tight fist now starting to tremble very hard, and the edges of his lips were tugging rapidly into what was like a pout, surprisingly.

"...Wouldn't you want us to be alone to fight?" Dally then questioned after a short pause formed between him and Dominic. Instantly, Dominic took no hesitation to look over to the door, thinking that somebody was there, startled at what all they were witnessing with their own eyes and ears, but all that ended up happening was Dally clenching Dominic by his bare shoulders, pushing him back with such a tough force that it caused Dominic to fly on back against the same glass table that Dally had banged his head on not so long ago at all, but this time, as Dominic's head banged against the wall, the force from Dally's push had the glass shatter from Dominic's body, bits and pieces slitting his skin and causing him to bleed as he forced himself to remain on his feet.

"You piece of crap!" Dominic howled, just as Dally attempted bolting over to him to attempt punching him some more, Dominic had yanked the picture that had hung on the wall over the now shattered glass table off from where it was place, whirling it across to end up swatting Dally across the face, a loud and echoing _**CRASH** _slamming off as the glass shattered, but Dally surprisingly only earned a couple more cuts, along with a pounding headache.

Dally reacted by prying the picture out of Dominic's hands, attempting to use the frame to hit Dominic back in return, but just as Dally swung it in the air to hit him, Dominic tackled him against the wall, a loud **_BANG_**instantly echoing throughout the small household, and Dally instantly dropped the picture, now struggling to get free as he breathed in and out rapidly, trying to catch his breath as his head rapidly pumped, this pounding headache getting worse and worse by each second that past.

Dally attempted clenching Dominic's wrists and prying him away from him once again, but he suddenly felt too weak to do so, surprisingly. Dally's eyes grew huge a bit when he felt one of Dominic's hands wrap around his neck, followed by Dominic leaning into his face and whispering with his terrible scented breath, "Say hello to my son."

However, before Dominic would even attempt squeezing Dally's neck, a loud **_POP_ **was heard, followed by Dominic's eyes shooting huge, a sharp, jagged breath being the last breath he took in until his body started shaking a bit, and his hand dropped from Dally's neck, leaving Dominic to just stare at Dally, who stared back with his eyes remaining slightly big, and Dominic fell to the floor...a bloody hole now printed there in his chest...and there Dominic laid now completely lifeless...he was dead.

Dally breathed in and out softly, but rapidly a little bit, at the same time, fixing his eyes to where he heard the echoing pop sound to now see Darry and Two-Bit. In Darry's hands, he was holding a gun.

"...I keep it in my truck, just in case..." Darry took in a deep breath and let it out as he stared at Dally, giving him a little smirk, until he fixed his eyes back on Dominic's dead body, knowing for a fact he wouldn't get in trouble for killing him since it was self-defense.

Dally smirked right back at the eldest Curtis, but however, just as Dally attempted walking, after his two first steps, he fell straight down on his knees, his head pounding hard with this splitting headache that was rapidly getting to him.

"Dally!" Two-Bit gasped, instantly rushing over to the highest bad-boy in all of Tulsa, getting down on his knees in front of him and placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Dally, are you okay?!" Darry asked as he quickly made sure his gun was now on safety before he joined Two-Bit on making sure Dally was alright.

Dally's eyes began shutting a bit, his vision slimly becoming a bit blurry, and his head was continuing to pound hard, painfully giving him this major headache as this sudden tiredness snuck into his system. That's when Dally remembered how much he was banged in the head by Dominic when they were fighting, getting slammed in the head many times.

"I never thought I'd say this, but..." Dally stared back and forth from Darry to Two-Bit, his vision going on and off from blurry to clear, until his eyes finally shut all the way. "Call...the fuzz..." Dally's head suddenly hung down, and there was no more verbal response or anything coming from him.

"He's unconscious!" Darry gasped, instantly hauling Dally over to him up and checking his head, realizing how much injuries he had recieved there when he fought Dominic. Sure, it was just some cuts on his face, but when getting slammed in the head a whole lot, even Dallas Winston could get...a head injury.

Darry felt Dally's pulse, revealing that he had one, so he wasn't dead, but he was still in need of the hospital.

"He probably got a head injury," Darry held back his worry the best that he could when informing Two-Bit that horrible possibility. That's when Darry looked over at the wisecracker to see him nervously studying Dally's head too. "Call 911!" Darry instructed.

"I'm on it!" Two-Bit instantly stood up and rushed over to the Prescott's phone, dialing 911 and holding the phone up to his ear, him and Darry both studying Dally from where they were while they were at it.

"911, what's your emergancy?"

"Um, yes," Two-Bit choked out, holding back his own worry now the best he could as he told the dispatcher every single detail that he could, pleading them to send an ambulance and social services over to the Prescott's house, wrapping everything up with Sondra and Iris's actual address.

About ten minutes later, with Johnny and Sondra, the two of them were walking down the sidewalk together, Johnny being the one who offered to carry both bags that contained his tux and Sondra's dress as the two of them exchanged random questions and shared their laughter, cracking jokes and chatting about what they thought the formal dance would be like since they were now going together and all.

"Hey, Baby?" Johnny gave Sondra's arm a little nudge, and when he had over her full, undivided attention, he used his free hands pointer finger to point up at a certain cloud that was all white and puffy, flowing its way through the clear blue sky.

"What is it, Johnny?" Sondra grinned when looking at the cloud that Johnny was pointing at.

"You know what that cloud is shaped like?" Johnny questioned, placing his free hand back down at his side, smiling his rare, handsome grin ear to ear when he looked at Sondra.

"Of course." Sondra giggled her response as she gazed back at Johnny. "It's like in the shape of a heart."

"...Exactly." Johnny bowed his head, beginning to blush a bit as he gave Sondra's arm another little nudge, which instantly had the oldest female Prescott blushing a bit too, and she tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

However, Johnny's grin vanished instantly off from his face when he and Sondra both walked around the corner to find an ambulance and some members of social services actually talking to Darry and Two-Bit, along with one of the workers from the ambulance.

"What the..." Johnny's black eyes instantly grew wide when he realized the social workers, and he knew for a fact that, that was actually Sondra's house. "Baby...that's your house." The eldest Cade pointed out, and when he turned his head to see Sondra, her eyes were now wider than ever before, her mouth hanging open in a giant 'O' shape. She began slowly, but yet quickly at the same time, shaking her head back and forth, mumbling out "No..no, no, it can't be...no, no..." to herself.

Nonetheless, Sondra somewhat snapped out of her surprised trance when Johnny started running towards her house to see what all was going on.

"Wait! Johnnycake! No!" Sondra called out, and she instantly started her way after him, scared to death on the inside about what they would discover.

"So, sir," Darry addressed the man that was helping take Dally to the hospital, Dally already being on a gurney and in the back of the ambulance. "What's wrong with our friend, Dally? Is he going to be alright?"

"He's going to be fine, but it's certain that he has a head injury." The man from the ambulance sighed, regretting that he had to say that completely. "Nonetheless, it's nothing _too _serious, meaning he won't have brain damage, memory loss, or anything like that. He'll just be out for some time, meaning he'll wake up sooner or later with a splitting headache. We'll give him some medication and whatnot at the hospital, so he'll be good as new soon."

"Thank God..." Darry took in a deep, but soft breath, then released it, both through his mouth. "Alright, thank you, sir."

The man bowed his head, before he trotted away back to the ambulance, hopping in and heading off to the hospital, the lights instantly turning on and flashing, as the sirens began ringing away.

"Darry! Two-Bit!" Johnny called out, instantly ganging over both the wisecracker's and the eldest Curtis's full, undivided attention, their eyes now widened after they rested on Johnny, realizing that he was there to hear all of the terrible news. Usually, Two-Bit would've been smirking or something like that, remembering the kissing scenes he witnessed at the mall between Johnny and Sondra, but at that moment, even Two-Bit couldn't smile to save his life. Both he and Darry were caught up in wondering how in the world they were going to tell Johnny all of this horrible stuff first. Where should they start? The fact that Sondra and Iris were both truly abused, or that Dally has a head injury because he fought Dominic?

"Johnnycake!" Two-Bit said "What are you doing here?"

"I might as well ask you two the same question." Johnny innocently said, looking back and forth from the wisecracker to the eldest Curtis. "What's going on here at the Prescott's household?" Johnny scanned the scene again, realizing some police officers were exchanging pictures of Spring Prescott, meaning that they must've been looking for her, and the social services members were heading on inside the Prescott's house, probably to check at how Sondra and Iris were forced to live with their parents.

Darry glanced down at his shoes in a worried manner, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets, while Two-Bit crossed his arms over his chest and nervously bit down on his lip, the two then exchanging their facial expressions. Nonetheless, their eyes plastered heavily and fully on Sondra when she reached Johnny's side. She looked frightened, her eyes now wide and growing watery as she looked all over at the cops and social services, causing her to lock her hands over her mouth and shake her head more. She couldn't believe it. After all of those years keeping it all a secret, she knew that it was out.

"Baby," Darry sighed "...why didn't you tell us?"

Johnny instantly grew concerned, cocking an eyebrow as he glanced back and forth from Two-Bit and Darry to Sondra. "Tell us what?" Johnny innocently asked, but no one answered him. Darry and Two-Bit were too busy heavily focusing on Sondra, who was caught up in having a difficult time believing that this was actually happening.

"Baby, please answer us. Trust us, we're not angry at you at all. We just want to know. Seriously, even I know that this is a serious matter." Two-Bit shared, but Sondra only looked at him and Darry, trying her best to hold the tears back, but some were escaping from her eyes.

"We want to know what?" Johnny began raising his voice a bit, but not in an angry or annoyed manner at all. "What serious matter?"

"Baby, come on...why didn't you admit that you and Iris were abused?" Darry questioned.

Johnny's eyes instantly shot huge, his heart feeling like it took one heck of a giant leap in his chest before it dropped, and he stared at Sondra, realizing how her tears were now starting to pour out of her like a waterfall.

"Dally fought your dad...he got a head injury, and he's on his way to the hospital now, Baby...he truly cares about you and Iris, just like the rest of us do." Two-Bit assured, and Darry nodded his head with absolute agreement. However, that only made Sondra start to cry more, because she now knew that Dally was on his way to the hospital, and she felt like it was her fault.

"Baby, please..." Darry began begging Sondra to say something, but before he could say another word, Sondra bolted right past him and Two-Bit, bashing as fast as her two legs could carry her down the road, shedding every tear that she could as she ran, sniffles and whimpers escaping as well.

"Baby!" Two-Bit called out.

"Come on," Darry gave Johnny a little tug, along with giving the wisecracker a single smack on the arm, motioning them to follow him. "Let's get in my truck. We're going after her."

**A/N: Cliffhanger! What's going to happen next? Stay tuned and please review! Thanks, everybody! :D :D :D :D**


	38. What Are We Going To Do With Her? Part 1

**A/N: Not much to say here unless it's thank you all, this story is almost finished, please review, and happy reading chapter 38! :D**

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_Chapter 38_

"I told you for about the billionth time throughout my entire time I worked here at the DX, stay the hell _away_ from me, especially when I'm busy working!" Kitten ordered the exact same command she's demanded many times in the previous past, as she stomped her left foot down from where she stood behind the front counter of the DX, taking her turn with her shift of working at the register. Her face was furiously beating red with her teeth gritting together a bit, and both of her hands were tightly being clenched into rock-hard fists that were being squeezed so hard that they were starting to pale a little and even start trembling, but Kitten could've cared less.

"Don't you dare use that tone of voice with _me_, missy!" Kitten's father, Kevin, bellowed in a threatening and warning tone, pointing one of his pointer fingers in a stern and angry way at his daughter, clenching his teeth furiously for her to witness, while he also narrowed his eyes, sending off annoyed and ticked off daggers. Nonetheless, all Kitten did was roll her eyes, starting to go at it with her old man, the two bickering back and forth like tomorrow wouldn't ever come.

Meanwhile in the garage, both Steve and Sodapop were busy fixing up many corvettes and mustangs, truly hating how they could actually hear Kitten's voice that was full of absolute rage, growling and bellowing away at her own father, who was taking no hesitation at all to fire back many more negative words and harsh snarls towards his own daughter, everything coming from inside the DX. Dang, it was a good thing that no customers were in at the time, that's for sure.

Sure, Steve knew exactly how it felt to be pushed over the edge when he and his own old man were hollering and cursing at each other nearly all the time, but Kitten was only Ponyboy's age, truly being so innocent and kind, but tough and hard when needed to be. Plus, Steve might've got kicked out of his house by his father at least two-to-three times a week, but Kitten could never dare go home to her house. She'd either get ignored completely by both of her parents, or if her father actually noticed that she was home, which was completely rare, and he'd whip her with a leather belt, or she'd get lucky and just get beat by just his fists. Secretly, Kitten didn't mind her father hitting or whipping her at all. At least she always fought back, using self-defense and all.

Soda, on the other hand, couldn't help a rare pout to tug at the edges of his lips as he helped Steve work on a red corvette, the two able to hear every single work that was getting thrown back and forth from inside the DX.

Sodapop obviously had such a great family, his mother being so golden-hearted, his father being so hilarious, Darry being fun and only stern when needing to be, and Ponyboy being adventerous. So, Soda had no idea what it was like to be beat and/or ignored, unlike the Cade's, Kitten, and sometimes even Dally. Steve was just hollered at, never recieving a single smack. Nevertheless, that didn't give away the fact that Soda knew how much it hurt, wounding your body with bruises that would heal at one moment, but the next would be your heart getting completely scarred, the dark past terrifyingly vivid.

"...Steve?" Soda's hands might've been working underneath the hood of the red corvette, but his eyes were heavily focusing on the door that led into the DX, his hearing completely off in listening to Kitten and her dad going at it yet again. This wasn't the first time that this ever happened, that's for sure. Nevertheless, it always ends with Kitten's eyes dripping with tears and her father saying something extremely horrible that it made all of his terrible words seem like compliments.

"Just...try to ignore it, Pepsi-Cola." Steve was busy working underneath the corvette, trying his best to focus. He had attempted using Sodapop's nickname since childhood to get both of them to actually remain calm, but the two of them completely understood 100% that they couldn't stand it any longer.

"It's impossible to ignore, Stevie!" Soda released a heavy sigh of defeat, instantly dropping the tools that he was using underneath the hood of the corvette without any cares, leaving them to fall and hit the concrete of the garage floor. Just then, Steve took no hesitation to slide his way out from underneath the corvette, pouncing up on his feet after he witnessed Sodapop heading his way to the door that led into the DX, wiping the grease off of his bare hands with a small cloth that he kept in the back of his jeans pocket when he worked.

"Soda, wait for me!" Steve didn't wait a single second to actually quit what he was doing, dropping the two tools he was holding to the concrete floor before he shot up on his feet, trotting after the middle Curtis.

Both Sodapop and Steve hated having their minds draw any from their jobs when they were actually busy working their shifts, but when it's about Kitten and her father going at it back and forth with each other, or about any of their friends in general, they always remember that friends and family come before anything. That's actually one of the main sayings they have in their gang.

"Why do you always notice I actually exist when I'm busy with my job here?!" Kitten demanded her father to answer that question, crossing her arms furiously over her chest, just as Soda and Steve appeared in the now open doorway that entered the garage, frozen in their tracks and eyes instantly stuck on Kitten and her dad.

"Look, knowing you're living isn't such a prize for me either! Don't think it's a complete joy for your mother or little brothers either!" Kevin snapped. However, a few seconds after he bitterly bellowed _that _out, which caused a couple of tears to start prickling up in Kitten's emerald green eyes, Kevin flew one of his hands back, exclaiming out, "God, I wish you were never born!", just as he swatted Kitten across the face, which gave off a loud and echoing _**SMACK**_.

A shocked/surprised jolt jumped through both Soda and Steve, but the number one car expert was the first one to rush over to both Kitten and her father, pushing him away from the fourteen-year-old girl that was now having her tears running down her red cheeks, one of her cheeks redder than the other since her dad just smacked her across the face.

"Hey, old man, lay off!" Steve ordered Mr. Andrews, giving him a hard push away as he stood inbetween him and the front counter, while Soda finally got out of his startled trance and he rushed over to Kitten, grabbing her into a consoling hug, one of his hands gently stroking her hair, while his other smoothed up and down her back a bit, allowing her to cry her steaming, hot tears into his shoulder.

"This is none of your concern!" Kevin warned as he pointed one of his fingers bitterly at Steve, but all Steve did was smack his hand away without any cares, a furious scowl instantly starting to swipe across his face.

"Our friend, our buisness," Steve growled, motioning to Soda and then himself when saying Kitten was their friend. "And it's best if you just head on out of here before we decide to call the fuzz on you."

"She's my daughter! I have the right to see my own daughter!" Kevin informed as he attempted walking toward the front counter again to see Kitten closer, but Steve pushed him back once again, but this time was rougher and harder.

"Some father you are, jackass," Steve went on and on muttering every word in the book towards Kevin to himself, until Soda cut him off, this new angry expression now plastered on his beating red face as well.

"He told you to leave, Mr. Andrews...that was your warning, and if I were you, I'd take it instead of risking getting my ass kicked." Soda shared, his voice soft with some of his rage pinched in, the rest of his massive anger being contained inside of him, as he continued consoling Kitten, but his upset facial expression remained perfectly straight on his face. "Now go." Sodapop growled.

"You'll regret this!" Kevin bellowed, the tone of his voice warning and growing louder with every word that furiously spilled from his lips. He angrily pointed a finger at Soda and Steve, right before he flicked them both off. "You two will regret this! Be warned that I'll be back!" Kevin added, hissing his words.

Steve rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips, while Sodapop only continued glaring at Mr. Andrews, comforting Kitten, who wasn't crying that much anymore, but it was still a generous thing for him to do. This wasn't the first time Mr. Andrews has ever stopped by the DX when Kitten was working with Steve and Sodapop, giving them his usual threats and warnings that weren't really a big deal at all according to Steve, Soda, and even Kitten themselves.

"Whatever. Just leave." Steve started gritting his teeth a little as his eyes narrowed, and he released some snarl-like growls for Kevin to hear.

Kevin stared back and forth from Kitten and Soda, to Steve a few quick times before he released a loud "Ugh!" for them all to hear, just before he stomped his way furiously out of the store, but not without pushing the magazine rack over, causing the magazines about cars, engines, and even some fashion to spill all over the tile floor of the DX.

Steve cocked his eyebrow at the new mess as Kevin fleed out the door, slamming it loudly behind him without any cares. Kitten finally released herself from Soda's consoling hug, wiping away the remains of her hot, steaming tears from her tear streaked face and red-rimmed eyes with her balled up fists.

"How old is this man? Ten?" Steve questioned, referring to how childish Mr. Andrews acted when he pushed over the magazine rack before he exited the DX like he was commanded to do.

"Why can't I be adopted?" Kitten crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her emerald green eyes, just as Steve picked the magazine rack back up and started picking up the magazines afterwards.

"...Who knows...maybe you actually _are _adopted!" Sodapop playfully raised his eyebrows as he smirked, placing his hands on Kitten's sides before he started tickling her, the leather-light touches of his fingers tracing up and down completely unbearable. Kitten instantly started laughing, her tears now starting to turn into tears of laughter, while Steve tried to not grin at the sight, but he couldn't help it, hiding it the best he could as he continued to pick up the magazines.

"Alright! Alright! S-Soda! You m-made your p-point! Stop i-it!" Kitten laughed, battering Soda's hands away from her sides, still leaving her in a fit of laughter as she wiped away her new tears with the back of her hands. Soda crossed his arms over his chest and snickered, while Steve just playfully rolled his eyes, still hiding his grin the best he could.

"That old man of yours is total horse crap, Kitty-Cat. You're nothin' like him." Steve pointed out.

Soda nodded his head with complete agreement in Steve's words. "And you don't deserve to be punched around or neglected."

Nonetheless, Kitten just placed her hands in her DX jackets pockets and shrugged her shoulders, biting down on her bottom lip a bit while doing so. "Don't worry about me, guys. I'm used to it." She sighed, but not in a hurt way or any way like that.

"Kit-Cat, you shouldn't have to put up with-" Steve began talking, but he was cut off when the front door of the DX flew right open, causing the bell that hung above the door to jingle. Sodapop, Steve, and Kitten snapped their full, undivided attention on the front door to see Sondra, who had hot, steaming tears running down her beating red face from her red-rimmed eyes.

"Whoa, whoa! Baby, watch out!" Steve attempted getting Sondra to stop running before she could slip on the magazines that still covered in front of the doorway, but it was too late. Sondra slid on an engine magazine and landed right on her right side from her foot shifting over after it began quickly slipping.

"Baby, are you okay?!" Soda worriedly asked, jumping over the front counter without any cares. He attempted reaching down his hand to help Sondra up, but all she did was shake her head at him, sniffles escaping as she pushed herself up from the floor. Still, that didn't stop Steve from gently grasping her elbow, making sure she had balance until she was off the magazines.

"Baby, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Kitten nervously questioned, remaining where she was behind the front counter as she stared at Sondra's many tears that were pouring out of her like a rapid waterfall.

"Hide me!" Sondra sniffled, her hands slightly shaking in a pleading manner. "Hide me! Hide me, please!"

Soda and Steve exchanged widened eyes, while Kitten started nervously rubbing her hands together, the three of them thinking the same thing that Sondra must've been jumped, considering their side of town was always having at least one Soc driving down the road in one of their fancy mustangs and corvettes every single day. Socs must've been after her or something, so she ran into the DX because she knew Kitten, Soda, and Steve worked there.

Kitten was already starting to reach into a secret part of the register, where she had always placed her switchblade just in case anybody attempted robbing the DX, some Socs try jumping anyone, or anything like that.

"Baby, get in the garage. We'll protect you." Kitten said, motioning to herself, Steve, and Soda, her eyes remaining on the oldest female Prescott.

At first, Sondra just stared at her, wiping away as many of her tears as possible, sniffling away. Steve nodded his head and repeated Kitten's order in a gentle and calm voice towards Sondra, while Soda gave her a comforting squeeze on her shoulder, right before he pointed at the door that led into the garage, telling her the exact words, "It's right through there."

Sondra took no hesitation to rush right on through the heavy door that entered the garage, continuing to cry rapidly. Kitten hopped over the front counter, now clenching her switchblade as she stood inbetween Soda and Steve, the three of them keeping their eyes fully on the front door of the DX, their fists clenched tightly and faces starting to beat red from anger in just the thought of Sondra getting jumped by Socs.

"How many of 'em do you think there are?" Steve asked.

"Who cares?! 'Em Socs are crusin' for a bruisin' for jumpin' Baby!" Kitten hissed, her rage getting to her through her slimly gritting teeth when thinking about Socs ganging up on Sondra.

A few short, quiet seconds later, Darry's truck appeared dashing into view, Johnny holding on for his life in the backseat, while Two-Bit was screaming his head off, most likely sounding like a frightened little girl. Darry slammed his foot down on the brake, bringing his truck to a hard stop in front of one of the gas pumps. He had accidentally sent himself, Two-Bit, and Johnny flying forward with just a little jerk in their bodies since none of them considered wearing seatbelts, and that stop wasn't so smooth and gentle.

"Darry?!" Soda's eyes grew big a little as his mouth dropped open to form a small 'O' shape. Confusedly, Steve cocked an eyebrow at the sight, unclenching his fists as Soda did the same. Lastly, Kitten released a soft, relieved sigh, right before she hopped and slid perfectly over the front counter, landing on her feet on the other side before she reopened the register, placing her switchblade back in its secret department.

"What's he doing here?" Steve questioned, referring to the oldest Curtis. "I thought Superman worked today, Soda?"

"He was supposed to. I mean, he left for work earlier today, and he works everyday except on Sunday's and Saturday mornings." Soda shared, confused just as much as Steve and Kitten were.

"Well, it looks like he found Two-Bit. Johnny seems to be with them, too." Kitten pointed out, just as she, Sodapop, and Steve witnessed Darry, Two-Bit, and Johnny climb out of the eldest Curtis's truck, quickly slamming the doors behind him and bolting their was through the front door of the DX, Darry leading the way with Johnny on his left, and Two-Bit on his right.

"Superman, Johnnycake, Two-Bit, what are you guys doing here?" Steve questioned, cocking one of his eyebrows once more.

"I thought you were at work, Darry?" Soda shrugged his shoulders.

"I was, but Two-Bit ended up coming to the site and telling me that there was an emergency with Baby and Iris..." Darry sighed with regret with all of the truths he and Two-Bit had to share, Johnny maybe staying out of it since he was still pretty chopped up about Dally being in the hospital from a head injury and Sondra and Iris truly being abused by their parents.

"Emergancy?!" Kitten gasped at the word. "What kind of _emergancy_?!"

Darry placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at his shoes, while Two-Bit crossed his arms over his chest and bit down on his lip, and lastly, Johnny stuffed his hands into his jean jackets pockets and sighed. Two-Bit and Johnny's eyes filled with plead and pain, and Darry's flooded with regret. The oldest Curtis and the wisecracker exchanged their nervous/worried expressions, until they stared back at Kitten, Steve, and Soda, who were all starting to have worry get written all over their faces.

It was all out. Nothing was a secret anymore. Two-Bit had shared in complete detail about Dallas fighting Dominic after he discovered bruises and some scratches on one of Iris's arms, leading up to when Darry shot and killed Dominic when he was about to strangle the life out of Dally, who actually became unconscious from a head injury. Darry took his turn with speaking by explaining how Sondra and Iris's abuse effected why they were so quiet and distant, cautious and hesitant, and why they always wore certain clothes or they tugged on the fabric, including also their eating from them just staring and playing with their food at one moment, to eating like they've never ate before in their entire lives the next.

"We followed her here in Darry's truck..." Johnny cut in, finally finding the courage to speak through his strong pain and sorrow that he was attempting to contain inside of him.

Kitten, Steve, and Soda allowed their eyes to grow bigger, considering they were already widened after hearing Two-Bit and Darry share everything else with them, and they stared at each other, now completely understanding that Sondra wasn't begging them to hide her from any Socs, but from Darry, Two-Bit, and Johnny. She was scared to death, afraid of what would happen to her and Iris since their secret was now out in the open.

"It's very important that we talk to her, guys, and gal." Two-Bit informed the three DX workers.

"Of course," Kitten nodded her head with absolute agreement. "She's in the garage, hiding."

"Hiding?" Darry cocked an eyebrow, looking even more concerned on the outside, but on the inside, he was truly confused and even worried. "Why would she hide from us?"

"She maybe doesn't know how you'll handle this." Soda responded, which Steve nodded along with. "I mean, we're against it as much as you guys are with how terrible hiding something like being abused is, but Baby thinks we'll be mad at her, maybe."

"But we're not angry with her. We even told her that." Two-Bit shared.

"Well...either way," Darry sighed, smacking his arms down to his hips. "I guess it's worth another shot. We need to talk to her one way or the other."

Soda, Steve, and Kitten nodded their heads, meaning they agreed and wanted to be apart of this talk since they knew how to handle chats about abuse, mainly because of Kitten's and the Cade's parents beating, cursing, and treating them like dirt. Darry, Two-Bit, and Johnny didn't mind them helping, considering Sondra was also like a sister to them, including Iris too, so all the wisecracker, the leader of the gang, and the eldest Cade did was follow the three DX workers into the garage.

"Baby! Baby! Where are you, Baby?" Darry called out throughout the many corvettes and mustangs, but Sondra was no where in sight. She must've been in there though, because she had no idea how to control the garage door, so she must've been hiding, sniffling and crying away, acting like her life was over completely.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Sodapop sang, deciding to get down on his hands and knees to look underneath this orange corvette, acting quick just in case, because if Sondra was actually hiding herself underneath one of the cars, she could be in great danger, because if you had no idea what you were working on underneath any type of car, it wouldn't end up so well for you at all. Nevertheless, she wasn't under there, nor under this green mustang that Steve decided to follow Soda's example by looking underneath it.

"We promise we're not upset at you! We just want to talk to you! Please, Baby!" Two-Bit begged, hopping on top of this small table that was near the corner of the garage where Kitten, Soda, and Steve ate their lunches if they worked their shifts on or around lunch, and the wisecracker started scanning the view that he got of the cars, hoping he'd find the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old girl. However, his hope died when he still didn't see the blonde Regular anywhere in the garage from the sight he got when standing on top of the table, so all he did was hop back down to the concrete floor.

Johnny stared down at his old, worn out, dirty tennis shoes, his hands remaining jammed in his jean jackets pockets as his cute black eyes flooded with plead, along with some tears of worry that were starting to form. Why did Sondra lie to him like that about her home life? Why didn't she speak up about her family? Sure, Johnny understood completely that abuse was frightening, and it was extremely difficult to crack through your terrified shell, exposing your bruises, scratches, and other injuries as you admit the truth, but lying about abuse was an extremely dangerous thing to do. Johnny learned that the hard way when he lied to the gang when they first met as kids, but yet, Johnny was still able to fight through the abuse on his own, protecting his kid sisters while doing so, and the gang promised they'd never call social services on Mr. and/or Mrs. Cade unless they sent either of their three children to the hospital, no matter if it was because of a single broken bone, or a head injury.

A slight few of the worried tears began dripping down the eldest Cade's cheeks as he carefully and slowly scanned the mustangs and corvettes, examining if Sondra was hiding inbetween one of the small isles that were formed inbetween each of the fancy cars that were next to each other. However, she still wasn't in anyone's sight.

"Man, this Regular knows how to hide!" Steve said, popping up after looking underneath yet another fancy Soc to check if Sondra was hiding there, but she wasn't.

"What do you expect? She's a smart girl." Kitten pointed out, deciding to take a peek under the small table that Two-Bit previously stood on top of. Nonetheless, Sondra still wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Well, there's not many more places to hide in this garage. Where could she be?" Two-Bit questioned, the tone of his voice eager and mixed with some worry, considering he knew for a fact, along with the rest of the gang, that Sondra was terrified out of her mind, crying her heart out at the thought of her abusive secret now being unleashed after she's been trying to keep it hidden for God knows how long.

Johnny continued to stare at the many different colors of the many corvettes and mustangs, gazing at them carefully and cautiously, until something caught his eye...

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**A/N: I'm so sorry it took this long to update, but I just recently started going back to school, so I have to do a lot more work now. Please understand my updating, and remember that this story is almost over! Only a few more chapters is left, and please remember that there _will _be a sequel! Please review! Thanks everybody! :D :D :D :D**


	39. What Are We Going To Do With Her? Part 2

**A/N: I can't thank you all enough for the reviews, views, favorites, and followers! It certainly means a lot! I can't believe that this story is almost finished, but I'm looking forward to writing a sequel to this for all of you! Now, I hope you can review, but enjoy chapter 39! :D**

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_Chapter 39_

Johnny heavily focused, cuffing his hands around his eyes as he stared through one of the windows of a yellow mustang, noticing that something, or _someone_, was curdled up in the tan, leather backseat, wrapped up in what looked like a blanket.

A jolt instantly jumped through Johnny's entire body when his heart took this massive leap in his chest, and he allowed his eyes to shoot huge as he twisted around on the heels of his dirty, worn out tennis shoes so he could see Darry, Kitten, Two-Bit, Steve, and Soda, who each gazed over at him from where they were standing, surrounding the small table in the corner of the garage, right after the five of them heard Johnny's shoes squeak when he forced himself around.

"I found her!" Johnny announced. He would've been full of rare pride at that moment, but unfortuently, he was still pretty chopped up in the image of Dally in the hospital from a head injury, and the truth that Sondra and Iris were both abused by their parents, their father now dead and mother missing. On top of all that, Johnny couldn't count all the lies that Sondra forced to speak to him, the gang, and possibly even her mini 'gang' since it was too many to remember.

"You did?!" Kitten's eyes went wide.

"Wahoo for Johnnycake!" Two-Bit cheered, one of his big, wide, goofy smiles now plastered straight on his face as he shot both of his arms up in the air, but it was obvious that he was only trying to brighten the mood, considering more sorrow will come when they talk to Sondra, learn why she hid the abuse from them and possibly others too, and all while they try to convince her the truth that they weren't angry with her at all.

"Where is she, Johnnycake?" Soda questioned, restraining one of Two-Bit's arms back down to one of his sides, his eyes remaining on the sixteen-year-old Greaser, while Steve did the same with the wisecracker's other arm.

"In there!" Johnny turned himself back around to face the yellow mustang, then pointed one of his fingers through the backseat's clear window. Without any hesitation, Sodapop, Steve, Kitten, Two-Bit, and Darry bashed over from one of the corners of the garage, to over where Johnny was standing by the yellow mustang.

"Tommi Gleason's sunset golden mustang." Steve addressed who the golden-yellow mustang belonged to, placing his hands on his hips after they all finished their small run over to one of the many fancy Soc cars.

Johnny's eyes suddenly went wide a bit, but not towards the name of a Soc for once...but the color of the mustang...golden-yellow, but it was labeled as 'Sunset Golden'..._that _explained why Sondra decided to hide in the backseat of _that _mustang. Even though she hated Socs, meaning she wasn't a huge fan of corvettes or mustangs either, Johnny knew for a hardcore fact that she absoluetly _adored _sunsets...and 'Sunset Golden' was her number one spot to hide in that whole garage.

The sound of the backseat door's handle making a _click _like sound caused Johnny to snap out of his thoughts about why she was hiding in _that _mustang, and he watched along with the others to see Darry opening up the door. Since Sondra was so, so upset, maybe even hating herself and the abuse secret now being out in the open, along with Dally being in the hospital from a head injury, she decided to not take any mind in locking the doors. That, and maybe she also figured that no one would've found her, but she was proven wrong when she heard the backseat door by her feet open up.

Johnny, Darry, Two-Bit, Steve, Soda, and Kitten were instantly greeted by Sondra's many sniffles and whimpers, each one filled with more and more plead and sorrow than the last. _That _certainly brought pain tugging at the six Greasers hearts.

"Baby!" Johnny sighed with a mixture of relief and worry, taking a seat down besides Sondra's legs, his feet remaining to touch the concrete floor of the garage, before he gently wrapped his arms around Sondra's waist and hauled her up into a sitting position, until he pulled her up on his lap, beginning to stroke her hair and hold her close to him.

Sondra's face was completely red, her eyes red-rimmed and flooding with many hot, steaming tears, which were drenching down her face, leaving long, wet tear streaks.

"Oh, Baby..." Kitten pouted as her emerald green eyes began swarming with pity and apologizes for all of the terror, pain, and sorrow that Sondra had went through by her parents abusing her and Iris for God knows how long.

"I'm going to go get her a drink." Soda said, which recieved him a few nods by Darry, and Steve giving his shoulder two pats as he told him, "Good idea, Pepsi-Cola."

"You want something to drink, Baby?" Two-Bit asked. However, all he got in return was Sondra's watery, red-rimmed eyes staring around at all of them, more sniffles and whimpers escaping from her. She shrugged her shoulders, right before Johnny gently and caringly forced her head to rest down on his shoulder, where he continued to stroke her hair and hold her close to him without any cares in what the others would possibly tease him and/or Sondra about in the future.

"I'll just get her a Pepsi." Sodapop informed, before he trotted his way away from the others, continuing his way out of the garage so he could go get a Pepsi for Sondra, because everybody knew that when you're extremely upset about something, some times getting something to drink helps you calm down.

"I think it's best if we call one of Baby's other friends...maybe he or she can help us by figuring out what in the world are we going to do to Baby, considering we know for a fact that her father is dead, and God knows where her mom is." Steve explained what was on his mind then.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, Steve." Darry nodded his head with complete agreement. "What 'bout Charlie or Rebecca?"

"..N-No..." Sondra finally spoke up, her voice completely jittery, full or worry and sorrow. Kitten, Steve, Darry, Two-Bit, and Johnny instantly had their full, undivided attention back on the oldest female Prescott, who was still shedding many tears like a waterfall.

"Baby, you _need _help, and there's nothin' wrong with asking for help!" Kitten pointed out. "It's obvious you need a new place to live along with Iris, and we can't have you living with some stranger!"

"I _don't want to_ live with some stranger! _That's_ why I never told anybody 'bout the abuse!" Sondra bellowed loudly, more and more tears rapidly flowing out of her as her cries got louder. She clenched her red-rimmed eyes shut and rested her head back down on Johnny's shoulder, allowing him to continue stroking her hair and hold her close to his body, while she remained sitting on his lap.

Darry and Steve exchanged their new facial expressions, just as Kitten confusedly crossed her arms over her chest and cocked an eyebrow at Sondra, while Two-Bit started scratching his chin in a thinking manner, and lastly, Johnny stuck to trying to console and sooth the fourteen-almost-fifteen-year-old Regular.

"So," Steve innocently stated, gazing back at Sondra. "You didn't want to admit your abuse to anybody because you were afraid of going away with some stranger to live?"

"...S-Sort of," Sondra sniffled as she wiped away as many of her tears as she could with her balled up fists, but new tears instantly took their spots.

"Sort of?" Darry concerndly cocked an eyebrow. Sondra hesitated for a moment, taking in Darry's new concerned facial expression as she continued to cry many more whimpers and sniffles, shedding extra tears. She tried remaining calm now, but it was extremely difficult with the facts of the abuse no longer being secret, and her dad was dead. As for her mother, she was missing at God knows where, and if _this _is all horrible for Sondra to know, how much more can she take with the fact of Dally being in the hospital? Even though Dally wasn't that kind to her or anything, Sondra truly did care about him, and she desperately felt so sorry for him.

"Y-Yeah..." Sondra nodded a little. "I was w-worried if the s-secret got o-out, Iris and I w-would've been parted from e-each other...she's m-my little s-sister! She n-needs me!"

"And she'll always have you, Baby. We're not going to allow social services to take you and/or Iris away to some strangers place to live, nor are we going to allow them to part you two from each other." Two-Bit lectured, which instantly had Darry, Steve, and Kitten nodding with absolute agreement, but Johnny was too caught up in continuing to console Sondra to nod along. Just then, Soda entered the garage from the door that entered inside the DX, a Pepsi can being held in one of his hands.

"W-What are you t-talking 'bout, Two-Bit? I saw s-some social w-workers at my h-house." Sondra whimpered, snuggling herself closer to Johnny's chest from just the terrible thought of social services parting her and Iris forever.

"Yes, but Two-Bit and I were telling them that just because your father is dead and that your mom is God knows where, we think it's best if you decide where you and Iris live." Darry explained as much as he could about his and Two-Bit's talk between them and the few social workers that were outside of the Prescott's house at the time of Dally being rolled into the back of the ambulance to be taken to the hospital. "That way," Darry went on. "You and Iris will be able to feel comfortable with your surroundings and whoever you two are with. That's why we think it's best if Charlie, Rebecca, or somebody you and Iris both know come here right now to the DX so you can fix this all up with them, too."

"...T-They'll hate m-me...Iris, too..." Sondra sniffled.

Soda shook his head. "No they won't." He disagreed, handing over the Pepsi to the blonde Regular, but when Sondra didn't reach one of her hands back out to take it, Johnny hesitated for a couple of seconds before he used his free hand to take the Pepsi from Sodapop, so until Sondra wanted it, he'd hold it for her.

"Baby, they deserve to know about all of this as well. Like Darry said, they can help us figure out what we can do with you and where you and Iris can go. They won't hate you." Soda informed.

"Sodapop is correct, Baby. You were afraid to admit the abuse to anyone, which is very common when you're getting treated like a pile of horse crap. Nobody hates you, Baby. Rebecca and Charlie won't hate you, and we certainly would never think about hating you either. Believe it or not, Dally doesn't even hate you." Kitten stated.

Flashbacks were coming back to Johnny, flooding into his mind, remembering back when he was only a child, meeting Ponyboy on the playground in school one day, and that's when he got to meet the rest of the gang, starting with Ponyboy's brothers and parents after school wrapped up that day. Johnny remembered how he lied about every single bruise, cut, scratch, bump, and any other injury he recieved from his old man and mother. He attempted hiding away all of his injuries, growing his jet-black hair longer over the years as he wiped away all of his tears and attempted hiding them from the gang and any of their parents. Nonetheless, his secret was out when he finally admitted it after he turned ten. Though, the problem at that moment was that Sondra never came out with her secret, unlike Johnny did with his.

"Please, Baby," Steve sighed. "Please give us Charlie's, Rebecca's, or someone's phone number so we can give them a call to drop by here right now."

Sondra kept quiet, only continuing to shed more tears, but she held back her sniffles and whimpers the best she could as she stared around slowly and carefully at the six Greasers, seeing how they were each giving her pleading eyes and begging pouts, even Darry. Sondra heavily thought about each of their words, hesitating for about another five seconds until she took in a deep breath, then sighed it out, before she caved and admitted Charlie's phone number to her six Greaser pals.

"I'll call him." Darry said, then left the garage to pick the phone up that was there beside the register on the front counter. The oldest Curtis took no hesitation to punch in Charlie's phone number then hold the phone up to his ear, listening to the echoing, waiting beeps as he kept mumbling to himself, "Come on. Come on. Answer, Charlie, answer.", until finally, after the fifth waiting beep, Charlie's voice was heard on the opposite side of the line.

(**Bold: Darry **_Italic: Charlie_)

"_Hello, this is the Creed's residents. Charlie speaking._"

Darry's eyes widened a bit at the happy tone in Charlie's greeting, and he began feeling sick to his stomach from the thought of actually making him upset.

"**Excuse me, Charlie, this is Darrel Curtis, a friend of Baby's. Look, I need you to get down to the DX station right away. It's very important.**"

This wasn't easy for anybody, and it was never going to be when thinking back on it in the past.

"_Why? What's going on, Darrel?_"

Charlie could instantly tell that something was wrong, so he wanted to know exactly what it was. Darry knew that he had to tell him, but what made him feel upset was the fact that Charlie was now holding back his nervousness and fear the best he could.

"**You can call me Darry, Charlie. And it's a long story, but Baby is in need of desperate help. Her and Iris both, actually.**"

With each word that came out of the eldest Curtis's mouth, more and more regret and sorrow echoed in his tone. How could he possibly explain everything that's going on to one of Sondra's best friends?

"_What do you mean, they're in desperate help?!_"

"**Like I said, it's a long story. Just please get here to the DX station ASAP!**"

"_I'm on my way right now!_"

"**Thank God, goodbye-wait...can you possibly pick up a fourteen-year-old boy named Ponyboy Curtis, along with Cassidy and Jocelyn Cade from the park on your way****?**"

It just suddenly rang to the eldest Curtis's mind that Ponyboy, Cassidy, and Jocelyn were the only one's now in the entire gang who didn't know about the abuse, or Dally being in the hospital from a head injury, so it was pretty obvious Darry wanted them to be picked up and brought to the DX station.

"_Um...yeah, sure, I guess. I'll know who they are when I see them. I'll be there soon, Darry._"

"**Alright. Bye.**"

Darry hung the phone back up, instantly heading his way back into the garage afterwards with nothing on his mind at all, other than his worry about actually having to explain everything to Charlie, along with Ponyboy, Jocelyn, and Cassidy, about the Prescott's abuse, and Dally actually being in the hospital now from a head injury.

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**A/N: Only a few more chapters left! What'll happen when Charlie arrives to the DX and hears the story? Cliffhanger! Please review and stay tuned! :D :D :D :D**


	40. Comforting Chats And Kisses

**A/N: I can't thank you all enough for the reviews, views, favorites, and followers! It certainly means a lot! I can't believe that this story is almost finished, but I'm looking forward to writing a _sequel_ to this for all of you! Now, I hope you can review, but enjoy chapter 40! :D**

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_Chapter 40_

Sondra couldn't help herself to cringe at the thought of Charlie actually speeding his way over to the DX when he could've possibly been doing something when Darry called him in the first place, and when he actually _would _arrive, he'd recieve the terrible truth of the abuse happening to her and Iris both for God knows how long, and with Dally even being in a coma from a head injury after he fought Dominic, who was now dead from Darry shooting him in the chest for self-defense.

The oldest female Prescott snuggled herself closer up to Johnny's chest, tears still flooding both of her eyes and dripping down her red, tear streaked face. She rested her head back down on Johnny's shoulder, allowing him to go on stroking her hair and soothingly shushing her, promising her that everything would be alright.

How could anything _possibly _be _alright_?! That's all Sondra could think about at that moment. Her dad might've been dead, but Dally was in the hospital, Charlie was on his way over to the DX only so he could find out about everything, and the abuse with her and Iris by their parents had been happening to them both ever since Gabriel died almost eleven years ago.

"He's going to kill me...he's going to curse me out and regret the day he ever became my friend." Sondra whimpered, referring to Charlie as she hid her face deeper in the eldest Cade's shoulder, shedding more and more tears, sniffling escaping as well.

"Baby," Johnny sighed, consolingly stroking her hair with one of his hands, while his other gently traced up and down her back. "Don't think such ridiculous things. Charlie is one of your best friends ever, so there's no way in heck he's actually going to abandon you or Iris over something like this."

Kitten, Two-Bit, Steve, Darry, and Soda had left the garage to go hang out and wait for Charlie to arrive in the small shopping area of the DX. Johnny, on the other hand, stayed back to help Sondra remain calm, continuing to sooth her and wipe away her tears as much as possible. Plus, it was obvious that the others wanted Johnny to be the one to remain with Sondra, even though they were full of just as much sorrow and pain towards what all has been truly happening to Sondra and Iris both for many years.

"Johnny, this 'thing' is _huge_! Iris and I have been hiding this secret for so many years now! Charlie and the rest of my mini 'gang' always knew that something was up with me and Iris, but we've been lying to them about everything!" Sondra instantly burst out into many more tears, allowing herself to hide her face deeply in Johnny's shoulder once more, wetting his jean jacket.

"Shh...Baby, it's going to be fine...everythin' will turn 'round...it always finds a way to do so...shh...please get a hold of yourself...shh..." Johnny sang in a quiet, gentle, and caring tone, feeling like he was about to form some tears in his own eyes and have them shed down his face. _Nothing_ has ever struck Johnny in the heart _that _much, even when he got belted by his old man or cursed and chased by his mom. Sondra was one of those certain people who meant the entire world for Johnny. Without her in his life, it's like a chunk of his heart would break off and vanish forever, hurting himself every time he remembered her from her dazzling pale blue eyes, to her shiny blonde hair, and her sweet, shy smile, and the best thing Johnny loved the most, her golden and tuff personality. That's what made her different from all of 'em other Regulars.

"Johnnycake," Sondra forced herself to stand up from Johnny's lap, not looking at him as she wiped away as many tears as she could, right before she crossed her arms over her chest. "You should be mad at me, Johnnycake...mighty furious, actually..."

Johnny's black eyes grew big from shock, not expecting Sondra to say something like _that _to him. Johnny attempted to hold the hot, steaming tears back, but he couldn't help some from beginning to form in his eyes.

"Baby, I'm absoluetly _not _upset at you in anyway...I was just startled to hear the truth 'bout your parents and-" Johnny began explaining, but Sondra cut him off.

"Well, you should be furious with me! I'd be upset in myself if I was in your shoes, that's for sure!" Sondra instantly started whimpering and sniffling a whole lot more, many of her new tears flowing down her deeply red, wet, tear streaked face like a waterfall. Johnny stood up from where he was sitting, leaving the unopened can of Pepsi where it was, and he wrapped his arms around Sondra's waist from behind her as he placed his chin on her shoulder.

"I assure you that you're goin' to have to keep dreaming if you feel that I should be at least a pinch of anger towards you." Johnny whispered in Sondra's ear. Johnny truly knew that it was kind of like that Sondra really _was _in his shoes. He knew exactly what she went through. Both of their dads drank all day and night, while their mothers took drugs and cursed at them, leaving all the hitting and beatings for their fathers to take care of, but if a chase was going to happen, that'd be their mothers. Johnny actually began feeling guilt flood up in the pit of his stomach, tightening up like there was no tomorrow. Sondra hates herself over keeping this secret about being abused, along with her little blind sister, only so the two of them wouldn't get parted possibly, and Johnny actually got nervous over the same exact thing if anybody reported his abusive parents. He didn't want to lose either Cassidy or Jocelyn. The only main, main thing that Sondra and Johnny were different from was that he was a Greaser, and she was a Regular. They both practically lived the same exact life, but now, Sondra's dad is dead, and her mother is missing, while both of Johnny's absuive folks are at home, most likely still drinking, taking drugs, and smoking like tomorrow won't ever come.

When Johnny whispered those words into Sondra's ear, she couldn't help some soft and adorable giggles from escaping her lips, even though she was still shedding some tears. Johnny's words were just so sweet, his breath tickling her ear when he leaned in closer just to tell her that, not any other care in the world at the time. Instantly, Johnny grew a playful smirk, loving the absoluetly cute sound of Sondra's precious giggles, especially at the time like that.

"Feeling better?" Johnny asked as he gently began rubbing and patting Sondra's stomach a bit with both of his hands. Of course, he was deeply hoping for Sondra to tell him yes and that she was feeling much better, but however, all he got from her was a regretful sigh before she started shaking her head, as if her previous giggles never even came out of her.

"I'm afraid not, Johnnycake."

That instantly had a pout tugging at the eldest Cade's lips. "Aw," He whined, his tone remaining soft when speaking into Sondra's ear once more. "No one puts Baby in a corner...now that your father is gone and your mother is getting tracked down, you're free from that corner, Baby...same goes for Iris, but I see that you're apperently in need still of help...I want to help you, you have no idea how much I truly want to, but..." Johnny paused his lecture to form another playful smirk. "If I can't cheer you up with talking and assuring, Baby...I think I know something else I can do to help."

Confusedly, even though some more chuckles slipped out from Sondra's lips from Johnny continuing to whisper in her ear, the oldest female Prescott couldn't help herself to cock an eyebrow at the eldest Cade.

"You know what happens to certain girls when they're down 'round me?" Johnny's eyes flooded with playful deviousness, which caused Sondra to gulp down a little bump of nervousness in her throat as she shook her head. That's when Johnny's fingers hooked like claws, and he instantly started squeezing Sondra's hips, wiggling his fingers around on her stomach while he was at it, and he playfully exclaimed out, "They get tickled!"

At first, Sondra tried biting down on her bottom lip in order to keep a smile from appearing on her face, but it wasn't long at all until she burst out into a fit of howling and beautiful laughter, bucking and trashing around like there was no tomorrow, trying to escape the feather-light touches of Johnny's fingers dancing all over her stomach, up and down her sides, and squeezing her hips, going ahead also with digging into her ribs and under her arms. Sondra pleaded and begged Johnny to quit it, but he wouldn't, causing Sondra to completely lose it when one of his fingers wiggled around in her belly button when her shirt got tugged up a bit after she was bucking around so much.

Finally, Johnny stopped, chuckling himself as Sondra breathed in and out rapidly, catching her breath as she wiped away her new tears of laughter from her face. Johnny placed his arms back around her waist to catch her when she almost fell to the concrete ground of the garage since she was still trying to regain all of her oxygen.

"Music to my ears," Johnny grinned, resting his head on Sondra's shoulder from behind when referring to Sondra's laughter.

"That wasn't fair, Johnnycake!" Sondra chuckled as she snatched up the can of Pepsi that Soda had fetched her earlier, before cracking it open finally. "You caught me off guard there! That tickled like heck!"

"It was supposed to!" Johnny pointed out, going on snickering with his words. Sondra attempted not to grow another smile, but it didn't work. A grin spread across her face, and she took a sip of the Pepsi. "You feeling any better _now_, Baby?" Johnny paused for a moment before asking to give Sondra a moment to take a couple of sips of her Pepsi and catch her breath.

"...I guess I'm feeling _a bit _better...but that doesn't mean you can keep tickling me!" Sondra warned, but she grew a bit nervous once more when she witnessed Johnny form another playful smirk, this one a bit smaller though.

"I promise I won't now, but I ain't promising anything for the future." Johnny snickered into Sondra's ear, right before he started gently scratching her neck with his nails. Instantly, Sondra released a yelp as she shook her head back and forth quickly, laughter escaping from her lips once more.

"Johnny!" She giggled.

"That time was accidental!" Johnny flew his hands away from holding around Sondra's waist to his shoulders, acting like he was surrendering or something like that.

"Whatever..." Sondra playfully rolled her eyes, taking one more sip of her Pepsi before deciding to ask Johnny, "Are you seriously not angry or disappointed in me in any way?"

"I swear, cross my heart, Baby," Johnny nodded his head as he placed his hands in his jean jackets pockets. "I'm not upset at you or anything. I completely understand that you were afraid to speak up because you don't want Iris to be parted from you."

"Exactly." Sondra nodded her head, taking one final sip of her Pepsi before placing it down on the hood of the golden-yellow mustang that she was previously hiding in.

"Baby, we're all afraid of things...trust me, you're not the only one goin' through something like this..." The guilt started returning to the pit of Johnny's stomach when he said those words. He started thinking about how he and Sondra were so much alike once more, causing him to feel a little choked up now, but he wouldn't allow a single tear to form or anything. He didn't want Sondra to know about his parents abusing him, Cassidy, and Jocelyn.

"I know I ain't, but in a place like Tulsa, it sure does feel like you got it rougher than anyone else 'round you, except if you're a Soc, ya dig?" Sondra shrugged her shoulders. Johnny nodded his head, remembering then what Ponyboy told him over a month ago about how bad Bob wanted attention from his parents, which is why he went out all night, cursed at them whenever he got the chance, and get drunk on plenty of beer. Randy, Marcia, and Cherry were the only Socs that the Greasers believed had true hearts, knowing things were rough all over, but like Sondra just said, when you've been in a place like Tulsa for a _long _time, it's hard to understand the feeling if you're one who has it the roughest.

"I dig you...big time trust me as I tell you that you're totally not alone 'bout suffering a horrible home life." Johnny placed his arms back around Sondra's waist yet again, and he placed his head back down on her shoulder, gently blowing on her neck just to hear some more of her giggles. He was successful there.

To Johnny's surprise, he felt Sondra's hands gently get placed on top of his, gently getting stroked a bit by the palms of Sondra's hands smoothing around and her fingertips gently scratching his skin in a comfortable way. Sondra grinned, secretly loving the feeling of Johnny's arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close like they were the only people left on the entire planet, and they didn't have any troubles or issues to think about. That's when Sondra remembered the kisses she and Johnny shared in the short past. He was a mighty tuff kisser, his lips so soft and 'skills' so tender and gentle, embracing and loving. Johnny actually felt the exact same way about her being an excellent kisser.

"Baby?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, Johnnycake?"

Nonetheless, instead of getting anymore words in response, Sondra felt Johnny's lips touch her neck, giving her about a five second straight kiss. Sondra's eyes slimly grew big as she took in a deep, but soft breath, her body growing stiff as she recieved goosebumps. The kiss she just recieved on the neck from Johnny just felt really nice, but it was so unexpected at the same time. Sondra always wondered what it was like to have a boy kiss her neck, and now that it happened, she loved the embracing result.

Sondra turned herself around, placing her arms around the eldest Cade's neck, using one of her hands to stroke his jet-black, heavily greased hair, while her other gently scratched the back of his neck with her nails, which caused Johnny to snicker a bit. Sondra grew a little smirk, thinking to herself that, that would come in handy for playful tickle torture in the future. Johnny's hands remained connected, but were now around Sondra's lower back.

"Why'd you do that?" Sondra questioned, referring to why Johnny just kissed her neck like that.

"Perhaps I just wanted to." Johnny smiled a playful, but yet joking grin, as he shrugged his shoulders in an ordinary manner.

"Johnny," Sondra chuckled "...you know you can do better than that."

Johnny's face instantly turned red, his eyes going wide, but his smile grew more too. Sondra's face was now just as red, and she was biting down a bit on her bottom lip in a smiling way, her eyes dazzling off happiness. Before the two teenagers saw it coming, Sondra was leaning back against the golden-yellow mustang, Johnny standing directly in front of her with their eyes dreamily shut and lips smacking together. Johnny's hands gently stroked up and down Sondra's back as one of Sondra's hands ran through Johnny's hair, and her other wrapped around his waist, holding the two of them close.

All of this fuzzy warmth was jetting through both of their bodies as they took turns smiling during their kissing, their eyes remaining shut as snickers released here and there. Finally, about twenty-five seconds later, Sondra and Johnny parted, no longer holding each other close or anything. They just stared at each other, eyes widened and faces beating red, but Johnny shyly grinned as he stared down at his tennis shoes, and Sondra shyly smiled herself when she tucked some of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

"Well...that was certainly...um..." Johnny shyly stuttered.

"Something?" Sondra suggested.

"...Yeah," Johnny nodded his head, "but you...you're still a golden kisser."

"Thank you," Sondra simply shrugged her shoulders, truly heating up more on the inside. "You're still mighty tuff yourself."

"Thanks, Baby." Johnny grinned as he gently stroked some of Sondra's hair and placed it behind her other ear, before leaning in and planting one last kiss on her burning hot cheek, this one being just a quick and gentle peck. Both of them knew for sure if anyone from the gang figured out that they were kissing like that, they'd be getting much jokes and teasing from everybody, minus Dally. Nonetheless, Johnny and Sondra still didn't know what to believe about their kissing.

Suddenly, the two teenagers heard the bell that hung over the front door of the DX store ring, followed by the door closing...no questions needed to be asked...Charlie had arrived.

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**A/N: Dun, dun, duuunnn! Cliffhanger! I'm so sorry for not updating in awhile, but I've been super busy with school and all of the work I've been recieving. Please understand my updating, and please review! Only a few more chapters left until a sequel will be beginning sooner or later! Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter! :D :D :D :D**


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